Visitation
by Cheeseball417
Summary: "Ladies, last semester, you encountered another brand of operatives. They beat you at your own game. Today, I am giving you a chance to redeem yourself." Set after Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy
1. Chapter 1

**A.N. **Please please please let me know what you think of this Chapter! It came to meand I just started writing so there isn't really any plot to it yet just points I want to incorporate. So if you have ideas or don't like it let me know! Thanks guys!

**Cammie P.O.V.**

"Ladies, last semester, you encountered another brand of operatives. They beat you at your own game. Today, I am giving you a chance to redeem yourself. Class dismissed; meet here at 0300 with a single bag. This will be your winter final." Mr. Solomon left almost as abruptly as he appeared. I hadn't even had time to open a book.

"Well, we have almost a full hour what should we do?" I turned in my chair to face my best friends in the world.

It was Macey who answered, "We pack."

That was how I ended up sitting on my bed, watching as Macey ran around the room, from closets to bags to drawers and back. Macey had insisted on packing for us, after all, she was the fashonista of the group.

For those of you who don't know, although you really should due to required security levels and all, my name is Cameron Ann Morgan. I am sixteen and attend The Gallagher Academy for Exceptional Young Women where I am a sophomore. I am a plain teenage girl, with light brown hair and blue eyes; nothing too special, not like my roommates.

First there was Bex. Her full name was Rebecca Baxter, but I suggest never using her full name, take it from someone who has been on the opposite side of one of her kicks or any other attack for that matter. She had light brown skin and caramel-colored eyes. She is the first non-American Gallagher girl, but my mom and her parents pulled some strings and got her in. She was a British beauty with an abrasive side. Yet I loved her all the same. She was the brawn of our group.

Next there was our southern belle, Miss Elizabeth Sutton, known more fondly as Liz. She was as skinny as a tooth pick with straight blonde hair. Her parents were not spys in any capacity, she was accepted into Gallagher because of her intelligence, a feat that awarder her many accolades including being the brains behind all of our operations.

Last, but by no means least, we had Macey McHenry, possibly the truest Gallagher girl of us all since she was a descendant of Gillian Gallagher, the founder of our school. She had started school late and had to play a major game of catch-up, but with our help, this dark haired beauty with the bright blue eyes had caught up and was on track to graduate with Liz, Bex and I. She was our consultant on all things teen and, more specifically, boy.

We spent the rest of our free hour packing and speculating on what the actual assignment was. It was established that there was definitely Blackthorne Boys involved and us Gallagher Girls were going to have a rematch. That left several things to the imagination including the where, the why and the how. And one thing we Gallagher girls did quite well was imagine. Our theories ranged from following to planting bugs to grand theft auto to kidnapping, but the bell rang before our imaginations got out of control.

**Zach's P.O.V.**

"Gentleman!" Agent Townsend, our replacement CoveOps teacher called out into the dim room filled with my classmates. I turned away from Grant and Jonas to face the man, might as well give him a little respect, "Need I remind you that I am here of no free will of my own? That I was forced into this hell hole along with you."

"And why was that, Sir?" Grant, one of my best friends, asked. I sent him a look out of the corner of my eye. The boy was about as tall as I was with much more bulk to him, particularly in his arms; after all, I preferred the non-steroid-but-still-muscular-look.

"Ignoring Mr. Newman's comment," he turned to Grant with a evil glint in his eyes, "for now." Glint gone, and talking to rest of the class, "For a reward from the Headmaster for God knows what, your class will be attending a baseball game for your next Covert Operation field test. Be packed, we leave at 1500 hours."

"How long will we be there, Sir?" This time it was Jonas. He was almost the exact opposite of Grant with his short, but lanky frame with his black buzz cut and silver glasses. I had a feeling he was thinking about how this trip would effect his development of some top-secret contraption.

"We will be there just over night. We will stay in the cheapest motel money could buy, head to the game and then come back. You will get your assignments when we arrive. Class dismissed."


	2. Chapter 2

**A.N.** Can I just say I was amazed at the response I got? Never have I had a story that got so many favorites and alerts and reviews in the first 24 hours, and I want to thank you all for that! In regards to this chapter, I wrote half of it on an iPad, so I hope the formatting is ok. Hope you like it!

"Cam, I don't wann..."

"Let's go, Macey. Just think, Boys!" Bex intervened, pulling Macey out from under her comforter and pushing her towards the bathroom.

"You have twenty minutes. Go." I called, closing the door behind her. I pulled my jeans up over my hips and buttoned them.

"Liz, look alive!" Bex had moved on to Liz. I began buttoning my shirt, watching Liz climb clumsily out of bed. With the rate she was going it would take us forever, so I began to prod her, forcing her towards her clothes and, once Macey was done, the bathroom, all the while, making myself look presentable.

By the time we arrived at sublevel one, the rest of our class was already there. "Ladies, nice of you to join us." Mr. Solomon broke the silence, "Let's go to the ballgame." Of course Liz's hand shot up, "Ms. Sutton, you along with the rest of your team will be briefed on the helicopters."

We made our way down seven hallways, passing 28 torches, taking 976 steps. We eventually stopped in a cavernous room, right below where the playing fields would be, and we were confronted, for some the first time, with the Gallagher Academy air fleet comprised of four helicopters and three private jets. Against the back wall there was also another fleet of unmarked SUVs and sedans as well as a few more conspicuous cars, all different colors. Sometimes, the best way to blend in was to stand out, a philosophy I, the chameleon, completely disagreed with.

Upon closer inspection, I noticed a body in one of the helicopters, a very familiar body. The person kicked open the cockpit door and hopped out. I recognized her not because of all of her physical attributes including long black hair and porcelain skin that out shone even our beauty queen Macey, but because of her vivacious personality that broke through as she walked over to our group.

"Ladies, meet Agent Cameron, she will be assisting us on our mission today." Joe spoke for her, not to be out done though, 'Agent Cameron' spoke out, "Why Joseph," she teased, "I'm a big girl. I can introduce myself."

Which she went on to do, "Ladies, I am Agent Abigail Cameron of the CIA. I am supposed to be on my way to Rio for, in my opinion, a much deserved vacation, but my big sis called in a favor, and who am I to deny a chance to see my favorite niece in action?" I felt eyes flicking between the two of us. I was a natural Chameleon, and by comparison she was a colorblind Chameleon and is a firm believer of the stand out to fit in idea in most cases, so I could understand why my classmates might find it difficult to believe we were related. At all. "Now, you four," She gestured to my friends and I, "get in my helicopter so we can go. I haven't been to a good Yankee game in ages!"

We were somewhere over New Jersey when we were briefed, "Since our founding, Blackthorne and Gallaghar have had a secret rivalry." Secret rivalry? How does that work? Either I voiced my opinion or she was a mind reader because she went on to explain, "Once every 100 years, the two schools meet and compete in all things spy. So far, the trophy has stayed with Blackthorne, but back then, we had more classes like Culture and Assimulation while the boys had move CoveOps. Since then, as you know curriculums have been changed and updated, so now, Gallaghar has a pretty good chance." She flicked her hair over her shoulder and I saw a look on Macey's face that one did not see often. Jealousy. I snickered to myself.

"Every game, as the competition is called, each school is given a chance to blindside the other school, scoring a point without their opponents knowing. Problem is, they don't know about the competition, but some of the boys know your faces. If you look under your seats, you will find disguise kits. They have skin changers and wigs and a few outfit changes, including a blackthorne uniform. The rest I hope you brought. We all looked at each other expectantly.

It was Liz who spoke up, "I have special Napotine patches, ropes, mini computers, comms..." our jaws dropped, but she just kept going, "finger print changer, colored contacts, um..." she picked up her bag and rummaged, "ski masks, gloves, make-up...ya know, the basics." She lifted her head, he big doe eyes meeting ours, "What?"

"Nothing Lizzie." Bex said shaking her head. Liz slumped back in her seat trying to figure out what she did wrong.

"Anyway, the boys won round one when Zach successfully tailed Cammie to the exhibit and the rest of you were detained. Now you need to kidnap one boy each. A van will be waiting out back where you can deposit them and return for backup. You have the entire game. Anyone who doesn't secure a Blackthorne boy will not accompany us into round three. Understand?" We all nodded in understanding.

A few minutes later, four minutes and 17 seconds to be exact, I felt the helicopter begin to descend. Glancing out the window, I saw a great big field filled with yellow dandilions and scattered with white flowers. The other helicopter had already touched down a distance away from where we were about to land. One by one we left the cabin, squinting in the early morning sun.

Mr. Solomon faced us, shielding his eyes from the sun, "Welcome. Here we are. New Jersey. The game starts at six, here are tickets, a subway card and cash. If you head west for about a mile, you will come to a road, another mile north and you will reach the center of town. You have rooms under the name of Marcie Douglas. Good luck."

Aunt Abbie and Mr. Solomon got in the helicopters and flew off into the sky, leaving me with my gear, my sisters and a mission.


	3. Chapter 3

**A.N.** This chapter skips around P.O.V.s quite often, I tried to mark them as best as possible.

**Zach P.O.V.**

"Gentleman. The time has come." We stood in our bus right outside Yankee Stadium and Agent Townsend was briefing us, "Among the crowd are people trying to tail you. Lose them and meet back here after the game. Good luck."

We left in groups. Grant, Jonas and I were given tickets next to each other, right behind home plate and we had to spend the game loosing tails. Typical.

**Cammie P.O.V.**

"Chameleon? Do you have visual on the subjects?" Liz's voice came through my comms.

"Subjects moving towards gates. All except one. Princess, this one's for Bookworm." I watched as Macey swooped down on the unsuspecting boy. He was one who hadn't been on the exchange, so Macey didn't disguise her voice when she said, "Listen, I'm having car trouble, can you help a girl out?"

The boy responded hastily and walked off with Macey. A moment later I saw Bex round the corner Macey had just rounded, had I not known she was coming, I never would've guessed it was her. Using a wig, the boy's uniform and some of the skin technology Bex looked exactly like the boy Macey had just slapped a napotine patch on.

"Bookworm is moving on!" Liz's giddy voice came over the comms. The plan had worked, Macey had handed over the boy to Liz and she got the credit. We would need her technical skills in future rounds, so we were willing to bend the rules for her, plus, even if she was of no strategic value to us, she was Lizzie, she was coming.

"Dutchess, move in." I spoke, pretending to check my watch.

**Bex's P.O.V.**

"Guys! Wait up!" I called, running up to the rest of the Blackthorne guys.

"McClagen! Hurry up!" Grant called. He looked good... Snap back! On a mission. I noticed Zach give me a quick glance and frown.

"Whadda you want Goode?" Imitating the boy, McClagen.

"Nothing. Nothing at all." He shook his head, the famous smirk forming.

"Dutchess, does the subject suspect?" I turned my head up, pretending to look at the sky then down at the ground. "On my way."

**Cammie's P.O.V.**

I stood up, straightening my skirt, or what was left of it. I was dressed like any teen boys dream: Little tube top and a short denim skirt along with accessories and flip-flops. I pulled out my phone, pretending to answer it, when in reality I spoke to Liz, "Where exactly is the van?" She answered and I ran over to the boys.

"Hey! Guys!" Using my best cheerleader voice, "My friend just got into a tiny accident, nothing big, right around the corner. Think you a couple of you could come give me a hand?"

"Ya sure." Bex answered, "Newman, care to help?" I led the two off to the van.

"Bex, take him out." I spoke, Grant spun, recognizing my voice and putting the peiced together, but not before Bex kicked him hard in the knees before slapping the patch on him. "Take him in."

**Zach P.O.V.**

That wasn't the real McClagen. I whispered my suspicions to Jonas before entering the stadium.

**Liz's P.O.V.**

The boys were seated in their seats. Bex had rejoined them making an excuse that Grant had stuck around to hook up with me. Meanwhile, Macey and I, disguises changed, were sitting a few rows back.

I scratched my face, the fake stubble driving me crazy, but it was my cover and I had to stick too it, so I took Macey's hand, acting as the loyal boyfriend and whispered in her ear, "Zach and Jonas are moving, do we follow?"

Macey stood and I followed. The two of us made our way after the boys, they went to the nacho stand. Why does that not surprise me?

**Zach's P.O.V.**

"Two orders of nachos, please?" I asked the vendor, pulling out the cash.

"This his first time at the games?" A girl had walked up behind us in line and was gesturing to Jonas who was spinning around, trying to take everything in.

"Ya. It's a school trip." I chuckled.

"It that why there are so many prep boys walking around? I come to a game to escape the snobby prepsters, not be engulfed by them." Her nose wrinkled in disgust.

"Well, to show you not all 'prepsters' are snobs, take our nachos, we'll get more." She giggled and accepted one of the nacho orders before running off to some scrawny guy.

**Macey P.O.V.**

"Chameleon, entering stage two of operation. Are you on stand by?" I called into my bracelet, meanwhile pointing at the boys to a supposedly jealous boyfriend.

"Confirming position. Commence stage two." I could just make out Cammie's enlarged stomach around a corner and smiled to myself.

I watch Liz walk right up to Zach and give him a mean right hook. Now, our Lizzie wasn't one for violence, but if she catches you off guard, she could wallop you. I ran after Liz and began shouting for her to calm down. All the while Zach was trying to restrain her without hurting her. The vendor screaming for a guard. Stage three.

Cammie rounded the corner, running like an over-weight security guard would. Under other circumstances, it would be quite comical. "You, you, you and you. Come with me." She commanded in an authoritative voice, stopping the fight, but not before Zach nailed Liz right in the eye. Liz managed to bite back her screech never blowing her cover.

I followed Cammie all the way to the back door, right outside was the van. "Hey! Guys! What's going on?" Bex ran up to us still in disguise.

"This guy attacked us and now the guard..."

"Oh save it Zach." I roundhouse kicked him in the head. He landed on the ground, groaning and clutching his head. Jonas joined him, napotine patch on his forehead, courtesy of Bex. "This is for Lizzie." I planted a patch on his forehead and watched his eyes shut.


	4. Chapter 4

**A.N.** So, usually I don't post more than one chapter a day. That, of course, is mainly due to the fact I'm usually a chapter behind rather than almost three chapters ahead. So regardless, I'm posting this, hope you like it!

**Zach's P.O.V.**

"Zach! Zach!" I spun on the kid. I was not in the mood. First time I'd left a school in the past eleven years and I got shown up by a bunch of girls, granted they were Gallagher Girls, but same-difference.

"What?!" It was little Ronnie Downes. We were the only facbrats in the schools recent years. My mom, before getting busted, used to work here. She was the language teacher and lived on campus, I had no dad so I lived here too. Once she did get busted, they kept me here, sort of Child Protective Service thing or something. Ronnie had similar circumstances, except his parents were both around and neither were dirty. "Sorry Ronnie."

"Did you guys really get kidnapped by a bunch of girls?" He laughed.

"Ya know, since you're only ten, I'm gonna cut you some slack. Now go away." The kid laughed all the way down the hall.

"Hey man. People giving you grief too?" Grant fell into step beside me as we walked into the mess hall. We took our seats beside Jonas.

"Even the twerp is." I shook my head.

"Problems?" We both shot Jonas a glare. No one was insulting him, he was just a techie, just the fact he was sent out into the field got him some credit.

"Nice to see the girls again, regardless of what they were dressed like." Grant stated right before sipping his orange juice. I couldn't help thinking back to Cammie as the security officer.

"Ya, I guess." I replied around a mouthful of pancake.

"Do you think they are coming here?" Jake asked, sitting down opposite me, "Some of us never got the chance to get up close and personal, unlike you Zachy-boy."

"Never call me that again." Zach. Sometimes Zachary. Nothing else. Definetly not with a 'k'. I hate when people do that. A few more guys sat down around the table, breakfast in tow just before the main doors shut, signaling breakfast has officially started, no one was allowed in. This was unusual, usually this only happened for Sunday dinners and holiday, but with the funk I was in, I didn't care enough to question it.

"Whatever, Mr. Goode, when do you think we will be meeting a Mrs. Goode?" Jake pressed on.

"Not anytime soon." I looked down, smirking and shaking my head, thinking of Cammie.

"Does that mean you're planning on consummating the relationship?" Jake waggled his eyebrows.

"Does it matter? After all, never gonna see her again." Why did that thought send my heart into my stomach.

"Well, they might be here, this is how we made our entrance. Completely humiliate them on their own turf and then show up. I suspect they will arrive any minute now." Jonas chimed in, saving me from awkwardness.

As if on cue, Dr. Steve spoke up, "Gentleman!" the insistent chatter ceased, "As most of you know by now, during our winter term, some of our boys had the privilege to meet our long lost sisters if you would. And now I would like to introduce to you a couple of their teachers and mentors. Mr. Solomon, Agent Cameron and Headmistress Morgan." The doors swung open and in walked Joe, Cammie's mom and aunt, but no sight of teenaged girls.

**Cammie's P.O.V. **(**A.N.** This will overlap slightly with previous section)

"Congratulations ladies, you have all succeeded in your task and because of that, you have advanced to the next round," Mr. Solomon spoke to us in the back of our van, "Which is why we are currently parked right outside the Blackthorne Institute for Boys." Whispering began. "If you follow me we will introduce you all."

We stood outside of the dinning hall, the doors half open, "Now ladies, Headmistress Morgan asked me to have you wait outside here, but the way I see it is this boys need their egos trimmed. Find a way to do that?" Mr. Solomon was looking directly into my eyes. I nodded before tying my hair up into a low, loose bun before sneaking into the dining hall. I made my way across the hall until I saw a familiar face.

"Do you think they are coming here?" a boy I hadn't seen before asked the table, sitting down opposite Zach, "Some of us never got the chance to get up close and personal, unlike you Zachy-boy." Zach-boy, I'll need to remember that.

I saw the rest of my sisters, sneaking around the hall, hidden in plain sight, before sitting at random tables. I caught Macey's eye as she sunk down at a table of older boys and winked at me.

"Never call me that again." Zach spoke. I snatched a deserted tray from a nearby table, scowling at the quality of the food. I tucked my chin down before sitting down, right beside Zach. The main doors shut, leaving my sisters inside without Mr. Solomon.

"Whatever, Mr. Goode, when do you think we will be meeting a Mrs. Goode?" The boy pressed on. Mrs. Goode?

"Not anytime soon." He looked down, shaking his head with that horrible smirk of his. I have to admit that I missed that smirk, no matter how annoying it was.

"Does that mean you're planning on consummating the relationship?" My eyes popped open. Excuse me? Consummate? As in sex?

"Does it matter? After all, never gonna see her again." Is that a yes?

"Well, they might be here, this is how we made our entrance. Completely humiliate them on their own turf and then show up. I suspect they will arrive any minute now." Jonas chimed in.

Dr. Steve spoke up, "Gentleman!" the insistent chatter ceased, "As most of you know by now, during our winter term, some of our boys had the privilege to meet our long lost sisters if you would. And now I would like to introduce to you a couple of their teachers and mentors. Mr. Solomon, Agent Cameron and Headmistress Morgan." The doors swung open and in walked Mr. Solomon, my mom and aunt. I could see the disappointment on a lot of guys faces when they realized there were no teenaged girls accompanying them. However a few looked contented, after all, my mom and aunt were quite attractive.

"Look at those two." The unknown boy said. "They are pretty hot." I almost choked on my food.

"Dude. That's Cam's mom. She's like forty." Grant spoke for me.

"Thank you, Dr. Steve for the introduction. Today, I am very excited to introduce to you ten of my girls, all of which are sophomores. They will be joining you in classes and in living and in a competition." She went on to explain the games Abby had told us about. "Without further ado, my girls. Can you find them?" I felt Zach freeze beside, me glancing around him checking for my sisters and I. Never did he check his own table.

I watched as a few boys noticed girls, my mother called out their names as they stood and walked towards her, joining her against the staff table, "Anna Fetterman. Courtney Bauer. Kimberly Lee. Elizabeth Sutton. Eva Alvarez. Mick Morrison. Macey McHenry. Tina Walters. Rebecca Baxter." Bex shot her a look and corrected her name choice. "Now there is one more, can you find her." Boys were craning there necks trying to find me, I did the same, blending in. I saw a few boys pause on me, but after seeing Zach beside me, they shook it off, after all, he was Goode, "No takers. Congratulations Ms. Cameron Morgan. Care to introduce yourself?" I untied my hair, shaking it out. I refrained from smiling when I saw Zach's face.

"My name is Cammie Morgan, some of you might know me as the Chameleon," some gasps and murmurs, I built up some courage and said, "And apparently," I glanced down at Zach, "Mrs. Goode." There were chuckles and a few catcalls. Zach stood, he looked down at me, meeting my eyes. Those beautiful green eyes. He left the room through the double doors, movie style.

"Cam, looks like your having marital issues." Bex smirked, until Macey jabbed her in the stomach. I shrugged and made my way to my sisters.


	5. Chapter 5

**Zach's P.O.V.**

Sloppy. I punched the bag. I, Zachary Goode, was getting sloppy. I danced around the room I had shared with Grant and Jonas since seventh grade. Each dorm was built to accommodate four beds, we only had three so we had a full corner of our room dedicated too basic work out stuff, much to Jonas's dismay.

She had beaten me, twice. Sure the first time she was in disguise, but the second time she sat right there next to me, no disguise, in her school uniform. In a skirt. And I didn't notice. I never really understood how Cammie felt when I had beaten her, but now that the tables were turned, I understood. She had taken it too far, she humiliated me in a way I never would've humiliated her.

"Zach! Zach! You're gonna kill my bag!" Grant ran in and restrained me. I snapped back to reality. I was on the ground, straddeling the bag, punching it as hard as I could. My knuckles were bloody. "We have class in a few, you better hurry." He let me go. I stood and pulled on my shirt and blazer before following him out the door.

**Cammie's P.O.V.**

"We are going to start some of you off in this class." We stood outside a room with a little plaque beside it reading 'Countries of the World.' Dr. Steve glanced down at his clipboard, then proceeded to take several of our classmates into the room, introduce them and find them guides. We moved on to other classes, each time some of my sisters left the group. "Ms. Sutton, come with me." Dr. Smith led Lizzie into the Research and Development Lab.

Moments later he was back and leading Bex and I farther down the hall until we came to a mirror. Dr. Smith placed both palms on the door and a artificial voice called out, "Identification: Dr. Sanders. New operatives?"

"Place your palms on the screen." He said to us, "Answer the questions."

The surface around Bex's hands glowed and the voice called out, "Name?"

"Rebecca Baxter." Granted she hated Rebecca, but that was how she was register in the Gallagher Academy data base so it was the name the mirror would accept.

"Rebecca Baxter. The Dutchess. Point of Origin: London England. Daughter of Abe and Grace Baxter, MI6." It went on giving stats about Bex. It was unsettling how this machine seemed to know it all.

The process repeated with me, answering all the same questions, "Thank you. Enter." The mirror slid open revealing an elevator. We stepped in and immediately felt the floor moving downwards.

"You two will be starting here in the Covert Operations sophomore class with Agent Townsend. We will get you guides who will accompany you around school for your first few days." The doors opened to a sad dim room. Somewhere I could hear water dripping onto the stone floor, or the stone walls, or something stone. "Agent Townsend I have a couple new students here for your class, do you mind if they introduce yourselves and get their guides."

"Actually I do." I agent dismissed him before turning back to his board.

"Than I'll make it quick." Bex said, shooting the rude man a if-looks-could-kill glare, "Bex Baxter. Codename Dutchess. Obviously CoveOps track. Any takers?"

"Get over here British Bombshell." Grant was in the class, and of course, Zach was there next to him. Zach seemed to send Grant a message without even looking at him because Grant looked at Zach and said, "Some of us are secure enough to admit we think a girl is hot." I felt the blood rise to my cheeks, but Zach didn't move an inch, just stared straight ahead, the only boy paying any attention to Agent Jerk's ongoing lesson.

Dr. Steve prodded me with his elbow, "Oh! I'm Cammie Morgan. My codename is the Chameleon. And, like everyone here, I'm on the Covert Operations track."

"Would everyone care to help Ms. Morgan out?" Dr. Steve asked the room.

Every eye in the room, except for the agent's, fell on Zach who stared unflinchingly at the board. No one said a word for a minute until the boy from breakfast spoke, "I'll take her." I made my way to the boy, feeling a bit betrayed. I took the seat next to him, behind Zach, "My name's Jake."

"Cammie." I smiled at the boy. He had wavy blonde hair and striking blue eyes. He looked like the stereotypical surfer boy.

"Now that the distractions are over, time for you ladies to earn your keep." Agent Townsend spun around from the board eyeing Bex, "Most expensive watch in the room. What make and which boy?"

"The is a fake Vacheron on you, so depending on what you paid for it... but there is also a real Rolex on the boy two rows over from me, one seat back." The man looked embarrassed, I guess no one ever called him on it.

"Cameron. Back at the baseball game, who was the third batter of the other team in the fourth inning."

"Michael Jow." I didn't miss a beat.

"Could you boys have answered that question?" Silence, but I swear, it looked like Zach was smirking, then again, I could only see the back of his head, "Didn't think so. Which is why I allowed for this intrusion." So we were an intrusion? How sweet.

The rest of the lesson passed quickly, after all, they were covering basic counter-surveillance techniques, something we had covered last year, maybe even the year before that. When the bell rang, Jake took to his feet extending his hand to me and helping me up, a nice gesture. "So, are you and Zach together? Or are you fair game?"

"Well, I'm not with Zach. That answer your questions?" I answered him. He seemed decent, but that didn't mean I wanted to be with him.

The rest of the day passed easily. Most Blackthorne classes were the same as ours. They had even started a Culture and Assimilation class after the exchange. I was standing in the dinner line, waiting to get what passed as food around here when I felt a little tug on my skirt. I spun around, no one was there, until I look down. There was a little boy with dark, dark brown hair and equally dark eyes. He had probably only just hit double digits, if that. "Hi, I'm Ronnie. I'm ten."

I giggled to myself before crouching down beside him, "I'm Cammie. I'm sixteen." I smiled warmly at the little boy, "What can I do for you?"

"You're one of Zach's friends right?" The little boy looked down at me with his big dark eyes.

"I was, ya." I smiled.

"Not anymore though?" He asked, cocking his head.

"I don't think he likes me anymore." I glanced down before meeting the boy's eyes again.

"You know, I might only be ten, but I understand a lot. I hear the guys talking when the think no one can, they still see me as the five year old I was when they came here. He talked about you, a lot, ever since they came back from the exchange. You should go talk to him."

"I don't think he wants me to." I muttered.

"Zach!" The boy yelled. I tried to silence his repeated calls while watching as Zach turned his head away from the tray he was hunched over.


	6. Chapter 6

Zach!" The boy yelled. I tried to silence his repeated calls while watching as Zach turned his head away from the tray he was hunched over, "Come over here." Zach turned back to his tray and for a moment, I thought he might blow the kid off, but that was too good to be true. He sat up straight, said some words to his friends before standing from his bench, kicking one leg at a time over the bench before walking over to us.

"Hey bud, what's up." He smiled at the boy, an actual smile, not a smirk, before crouching down.

"Talk to her." Ronnie said before turning and running off.

Zach shot me a look out of the corner of his eyes, "Welcome to Blackthorne." He stood and walked out of the cafeteria. I followed.

"Zach, can we please talk?" I all but yelled into the entrance hall, which was empty beside the two of us.

He stopped and spun faster than I thought was possible causing me to almost run into him, "What do you want to talk about Cam? Hm? The first time or the second time you humiliated me?" I blinked a couple times. I turned my eyes away, unable to look into his green eyes. Zach Goode was intense and right now, it was all directed at me. I didn't know how to respond to that, so I just remained silent.

"Look at me Cam." His voice was quieter now, just above a whisper. He lifted his hand and brushed a lock of hair out of my face and tucked it behind my ear. I still wouldn't meet his eyes, but that didn't stop him, "Why did you need to make that comment?"

"What comment?" I knew which one he was talking about.

"You know which one, Mrs. Goode." There was a little half smile on his face, almost as if he was laughing at himself.

"Please, dear, Cammie or Cameron Mrs. Goode is my mother." I attempted to lighten the mood, "Think of it as getting even for the bra thing." I met his eyes and I could see a light dancing in there.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." I chuckled.

"So are we good now?" I smiled at him.

"I suppose." There was the smirk. I had missed that smirk. "Is that so Gallagher Girl?"

"Is what so." I couldn't have...

"You missed my smirk." He took a step forward, I took one back. "You just said, 'I missed that smirk.' Is that true?" A few more steps forward, I mimicked him in reverse until my back hit the wall. "Come on, Gallagher Girl, admit it, you missed me." I lowered my head, but he reached a hand under my chin and pulled it back up. "Need me to admit it first? I missed you Gallagher Girl, but I'm sure Ronnie already told you that." He snaked his arm around my waist, moving a little closer. What kind of soap did this boy use? "So, did you miss me Gallagher Girl?"

"Zach, I..."

"Looks like the love birds made up." Grant chuckled. I tried to push Zach away, but he wouldn't budge, leaving my hands on his rock hard pecks. He was buff.

"Zach," I whined, "Let me go."

"I'll meet you in the room in a few, ok?" Zach gave Grant a sideways glance.

"Ya, sure man." Grant began climbing the stairs.

"I'm not letting you go until you admit it. You missed me." Zach Goode was back and I was beginning to miss him less and less.

"I said I missed the smirk, not you." I said.

"Funny thing is Gallagher Girl, you never said neither." I was right. I didn't say it.

"How did you..."

"Spy." He let go of my chin and pointed to his chest. We were quiet. Blackthorn boys walked past us, murmuring to each other. These guys were worse than Tina. "So, listen. It's Friday night. We were planning on having a movie night in our room. But, if you and your girls wanna join, I'm sure we could move it into the sophomore commons."

"And which girls would that be?" I smiled.

"Use your discretion," he smirked, "Do me a favor and make sure Bex and Liz come, some of the guys have taken a liking to them, Macey too."

"I guess we could make that happen." I tried to copy his smirk.

"That's my smirk. Patent pending." And there was the apparent patent-pending smirk. Zach pushed off the wall, my hands, which had been resting on his chest, fell into the new space, "And you should wear your pajamas." He smirked before ascending the staircase, "See you at ten," he turned the corner rushing, assumingly, to catch up with Grant.

I turned just in time to see Bex and Liz leaving the dinning hall, Bex was biting into an apple when I told her the news, "We've just been invited to a pajama party." Bex almost choked on her apple.

"A bloody what?" She shouted.

"You heard me."

We went outside to the quad to get some sun before alerting Macey our date. Neither of us spoke, but we knew we were both thinking the smae thing: "Macey is going to make this a lot more difficult than it needed to be."

"Well, we have roughly two hours," 1 hour, 57 minutes and 36 seconds to be exact, "Let's get to work." Macey walked over to her drawers and began pulling garments out. Out of nowhere, cloth hit me in the face.

"Macey!" I yelled. "I can't wear this!" Examining the too short shorts and too thin tank top.

"You will and you'll like it." Macey said firmly, her gaze told me not to persist, so I stood and walked into the bathroom.

I unbuttoned my blouse and slid my skirt down, replacing it with the pajamas. "Macey, these things are too short." I spun slowly, trying to get her to see reason, but alas, reason is usually lost to Macey McHenry when it could tamper with her fashion.

The next hour went quickly, I sat about, getting ahead on Blackthorne work when I realized, "Should we ask the other girls?" Bex looked up from her copy of War and Peace in the original Russian.

"We should tell them..." Macey dragged the sentence out.

"I'll go." Liz volunteered, she was next in line for hair. She hated it because "the hair gets to hot and burns my neck."

"But we don't have to do it now." Macey finished, "We'll tell them when we leave. Bex, you're done. Liz, hop up."

"Come on Cam, I can do yours."


	7. Chapter 7

**Zach's P.O.V.**

"Think they'll show?" Grant asked, shooting a ball into the corner pocket.

"They will. Which one do we want to start with?" Jonas asked, on his knees beside the DVD player.

"Mission Impossible!" Jake called from the kitchenette in the corner where he was popping popcorn, "I love watching the old gadgets civilians still think are current."

"Personally, I prefer Bourne Identity, even more outdated stuff." I turned and saw the Bex, Liz and Macey in the doorway. It was Bex who had spoken.

"Where's Cammie?" Jonas asked.

"She'll be joining us later,maybe," Macey collapsed on the couch. "Apparently, the games are on..."

**Cammie's P.O.V.**

"You could've at least let me change. Or picked a day when it wasn't pouring?" I demanded of the Blackthorne P & E coach, Mr. Bruce, a tall, fat blonde man.

"Most of the time out in the field a spy doesn't get a chance to change or the luxury of a sunny day. Understand?" I nodded, shivering in the rain, "Cameron Morgan meet Stephan Moore. You two will be racing in the sense of who can do the most laps the fastest. Follow me and we shall walk the course." We did so. The lap was almost five miles, 4.66 to be exact, "Mr. Moore, get started." We watched as Moore rounded the corner. "Go."

Wind. Rain. Turns. I could barely see. I just kept going. The rain kept coming, cold and hard. There came a point where all pain disappeared and the only way to keep warm was to go harder. Go faster. I registered passing Mr. Bruce several times. Over two hours had passed before I passed Mr. Bruce for the eighth time. I heard him call something out, but I couldn't make it out. I assumed he was demanding more, saying I was weak, so I forged ahead and quickened my pace. When I passed him the second time, his arm wrapped around my waist, pulling me to a stop.

"Cammie, you need to finish!" He yelled.

"I'm trying to, you won't let me!" I yelled back, trying to pull away.

"No! You need to stop! You ran 40 miles in 2 hours! That's unheard of. We need to get you inside."

**Zach's P.O.V.**

I had been out of the common room, going to get soda from the kitchen when I heard the yelling.

"Where is your infirmary?" A voice came from around the corner.

We didn't have one. "We don't have one. Our boys either walk it off or we send them to a hospital." Coach Bruce?

I turned the corner. It took me a full ten seconds to register what I was seeing. Normally, that was a long time, then again, I was off my game. Headmistress Morgan came first, but I barely recognized her. She was standing just outside the faculty dorm she had been assigned. Her hair was in a ponytail, dressed in pajama pants and a tanktop. She wore no make up and for once, she actually looked older than mid-twenties. Next came Coach, soaked from head to toe in his regular gym cloths. "She's going to freeze." That's when I saw her. Cammie in Coach's arms. Her lips were blue. She was soaking wet.

"Cammie!" I yelled rushing towards them, "Ms. Morgan, what can I do?"

"Zach!" She eyed me, "Give me your sweatshirt." I ripped it off, "Give me my daughter and get out of here." Coach leaned Cammie up against Headmistress Morgan and scurried off. He always did remind me of a rat. "Help me get her inside." I picked Cammie up and followed the headmistress inside her dorm. She pulled the couch out, turning it into a pull out bed, "Get her on the couch." I placed her down. "Go into the closet, there are blankets." When I returned, Cammie's wet cloths were on the ground and she was wrapped only in my sweatshirt. "Hand 'em over." I gave her the blankets and helped her get Cammie into the blankets.

"Here, put this on. Wouldn't want people getting the wrong idea." Ms. Cameron handed me a sweatshirt. It was old and worn but it fit. "Do you want some hot chocolate? I found it in the kitchen earlier, staff said it would never be used."

"That would be great, thanks Headmistress Morgan."

She set the pot of water on the burner to boil before turning to me and saying, "For tonight only Zach, you can call me Rachel. Tonight only." She looked me in the eye.

"Headmis- Rachel, you do know who my mother is, right?" She was one of the few adults in spy life who didn't look at me like I was a rogue.

"I do know, Zach." She nodded, checking the water.

"Then why do you, why do you care?" I whispered.

"That sweatshirt you're wearing, it was Matthew's, Cammie's dad. He went to Blackthorne. So did Joe. They were best friends. One accepted the circle's offer, the other didn't. In the end, both ended up saving lives. No matter who your mother is, you aren't her. Plus, I knew here. She was two years above Abbie, a year below me. She was always a sweet girl. It wasn't until she reached her junior year that she started to change." We lapsed back into silence.

I ended up sitting on one of the dinner chairs while Rachel sat beside her daughter, stroking her hair. "She set a record. 40 miles in 2 hours. 3 minute average." She smiled down at her daughter. "When she was seven, she loved to show us how she was just like Aunt Abbie, I wasn't an active agent at the time, I had decided to raise her, anyway, she showed us how she could run. She went around and around the farm Matthew's parents owned. She just kept going until she had to stop, she could hardly breath. Ten minutes later she started again, said she had to get better, said she had to _be_ better." Silence again.

She yawned, "Zach, I'm going to bed."

"Oh, I'll head out, let me know-"

"I was going to ask if you could keep an eye on Cam." She smirked, What is with these Morgan women and stealing my smirk?

"If it's ok with you..." Was she asking me to spend the night with Cammie?

"Just behave." She gave me the look. The look that said touch her and die. She went into the separate bedroom, leaving me alone with Cammie.


	8. Chapter 8

**Cammie's P.O.V.**

I turned over on the surface. I couldn't remember how I got there, last thing I remembered was running in the rain. I sat up, my head spinning and glanced around my surroundings. My mother's apartment? My vision was a bit blurry when I glanced about, there was a man sitting in a chair, asleep, wearing an old Blackthorne sweatshirt. Dad? No, he was gone. "Joe?" The man stirred.

"Cammie! You're up!" Zach?

"Zach what are you doing here?" I pulled the blankets tighter around me, suddenly hyper-aware of the lack of coverage on the bottom half of my body.

"Your mom asked me to keep an eye on you while she was out helping with the next round of the games. You beat Moore, two times his distance. Set a couple records, you were gonna keep going too. Fastest mile and longest distance. 2.57 minutes and a total of 40 miles." He smirked and shook his head.

"You were keeping a real good eye on me, weren't you?" He laughed until we both fell silent, "Sorry I missed movie night."

"It's ok, you'll owe me one." He moved from the chair to the pull-out bed I was lying on. He leaned forward and placed the back of his hand against my forehead. "You feel better?"

"I'm a bit warm, lot of blankets." It was true, I was sweating bullets.

"Do you need me to help you get out of them?" I guess something on my face gave him the answer because his next sentence was, "Right, your mom threw you pajamas from last night through the wash. I'll go get them." He disappeared into a large closet and cam back with the shorts and tank top, "I really do like these you know." He waved the shorts around in the air a bit before tossing them to me. I slid them on under the covers before throwing the many blankets off. "Think we should get you back to your friends?"

"I suppose."

**Zach's P.O.V.**

She swung her legs over the side of the bed and sat up beside me. The shorts she had insisted on wearing did very little to cover her, it appeared as though she was only wearing my sweatshirt from last night. Her hear was tousled from her sleep and her make up was running down her face due to the rain.

I stood from the bed, crossing to the kitchenette and wetting a paper towel. "Come here, Gallagher Girl." I set my knee on the bed beside Cammie and leaned into it, leaning over her. I brought the cloth up to her face.

"Zach, you don't have to..." She complained, leaning away from me. I followed her, leaning in closer.

"Stay still." I placed my other hand on the back of her head, holding her in place. I wiped her face clean of the make-up Macey had probably forced onto her. Once I finished, I walked her back to the suite she was sharing with the girls.

**Cammie's P.O.V.**

I was just about to open the door when Zach grabbed her arm, holding me back, "Why do you let her do it, Gallagher Girl?" I turned around to face him.

He backed me into the door, placing his hands against it, one on each side of my head about a foot higher than my shoulders. I gulped, "Why do I let who do what?" Our noses were almost touching, his slightly higher.

"Why do you let Macey dress you up? Put on your makeup?" His lips brushed against mine as he talked. Enough to say our lips touched, not enough to call it a kiss.

"She likes it." I shrugged, pushing against the door, trying to create some much needed space.

"But you don't, nor do you need it." He pushed away from the door and opened it in one fluid motion. I fell backwards, hearing my roommates call my name, shock and relief evident in their voices. I caught myself before I fell, hanging onto the door molding I propelled myself into the hallway, glancing around for the boy who wasn't there.

"I'm going to go explore the school a bit." I had been working on homework all day, the classes might be easy, but apparently it was in the homework that students learned. It was obvious I was getting no sleep tonight so I might as well take a break.

My roommates nodded the consent, Bex and Liz turning back to their homework immediately while Macey read her magazine, having given up on homework she scribbled random answers through half of it. I slid a pair of Macey's sweatpants on, replacing the shorts and slid on those Ugg slip-ons Macey had gotten me for Christmas.

I hadn't told my roommates about what Zach had said, which says a lot, because I'd tell them almost anything. But for some reason, I felt like what Zach had said was private, which complicated things since I had no idea what he said without the help of Macey or Liz's boy-to-English translator. He had verbally said that I didn't like makeup, but then went on to say that I didn't need it. Didn't need to not like it or didn't need the actual substance? And if it was the actual substance was it because I was a lost cause or because I actually didn't need it? And since when was Zach Goode so forward? After all, he was a spy as he all too often reminded me.

"You ever going to tell us where you were last night?" Grant. And he could only be talking to one person.

"Can you wait until we get back to the room?" Zach. I looked around the hallway. There were no alternate routes to take, no crevices to squeeze into, no way out for that matter. Except for the portrait of Fredrick Blackthorne, the school's founder. I ran to the portrait and looked behind it, there it was. The first hidden passageway Cammie Morgan found in the Blackthorne Institute.


	9. Chapter 9

**Cammie P.O.V.**

It was a tight squeeze, but I could fit. I was willing to bet that most boys older than eighth grade couldn't fit if they went sideways and crouched. The tunnel was coated in cobwebs and all kinds of creepy stuff. This is what happens when humans don't use passageways, other things do.

I jumped nearly a foot in the air when I heard a door slam on my right. I reflexivly turned towards the sound. Plain wall, pressed right against me. I felt around the surface, looking for a switch or a button or something. I found nothing, but the wall slid away, leaving me staring straight into an occupied dorm room.

The room had three beds; a boy sat lounging on one, typing away on his laptop. Another boy was stretching beside a hanging punching bag. A third boy was sprawled on the hardwood floor. And the fourth and final was standing right in front of me, staring at a space several inches above my head.

"So Zachy, where'd you go?" Jake asked from his spot on the ground.

In one fluid motion Zach's shirt was off and flying through the air at Jake, "I told you not to call me that!" He turned back to face me, that smirk of his gracing his perfect face. Did I really just call Zach Goode's face perfect? It was perfect. The emerald eyes. The nose. The lips. My eyes drifted downward, passing the sculpted arms, and came to rest on the perfect abs, an eight pack that ended in slim hips clad in a pair of gray sweatpants with BLACKTHORNE written down the left side in bold black letters.

"Come on man, stop teasing us, let's hear it." Grant grunted out as he lay into the punching bag.

"I was in Headmistress Morgan's apartment." Grant missed the bag. Jake shot up into a sitting position. Jonas's eyes were torn from the screen. I notice himself reflected in his glasses. One way mirror. Sweet.

"Damn. You really have a thing for the Morgan woman, don't ya?" Jake snickered, the first to recover from the initial shock.

"It wasn't like that. Cammie was sick. Coach took her out running last night. She was the one who beat Moore. She ran a 2.57 minute mile. A total of 40 miles in two hours. Coach had to stop her. She set too records." The smirk widened at my accomplishment. It made him even cockier? "The rain and cold got to her, and the exertion. Her lips turned blue. She exhibited almost all symptoms of hypothermia."

"That how you exchanged your sweatshirt for this relic?" Jake grabbed the folded sweatshirt from the nearest bed.

"Put it down. It's Cammie's dad's." Zach spun, snatching the sweatshirt. He carefully refolded it and placed it on the top of one of the dressers. He then collapsed onto the bed the sweatshirt had been on.

"Better question then." Jonas spoke up, "One of the ways to treat hypothermia is to lie together naked." I blushed even though they couldn't see me.

"I hear no question in there." Zach didn't even lift his head.

"Did you and Cammie lie naked together?" Jake pressed, "Nice one, Jonas." He high-fived his friend.

"No we did not. Her mom was in the room the entire time."

The door flew open, "Jake! It's here!" A nerdy looking kid appeared, holding a box in his hands.

"Be there in a minute Max." The boy left, "His mom told him she was sending him an uncrackable C.I.A. code. He wants to crack it."

"Coming!" Jonas and Jake left.

The remaining two boys stayed in silence; Zach staring up at the ceiling and Grant beating the bag. I ventured farther down the tunnel, but saw that there was nothing else, only the window into the trio's room. I returned to the window. Grant finished his work out and had collapsed on what I assumed to be his bed in a fashion similar to Zach's.

"How's Bex doing? Ask her yet?" Ask her what?

"I have not asked her, Zachy boy." He said matter-of-factly.

"When you gonna ask her?" Zach leaned up on his elbows.

"Right after you ask Cammie." Grant copied his friend. Ask me what? "You are going to ask her right?"

"I was going to at the movie night, but now..." He trailed off.

"Go do it now." Grant sat all the way up and pointed to the door. "Go! Bring the sweatshirt. Nice ice breaker."

"What am I supposed to say? Believe it or not, I haven't done this too many times before." Zach collapsed on his bed.

"Go up to her and say 'Cammie, be my girlfriend.' That's it, now go." Girlfriend? Girlfriend? He left. Sweatshirt in hand.

I ran back to my room, going out of my way, avoiding Zach. I had no idea what I was going to say, but I had to be there to say something. I made it in time, bursting into the room, my roommates exactly where I had left them.

"Sh. Act natural." I whispered. They were all looking at me like I was crazy. Maybe I was.

I spread books out on my bed, making it look like I had been working. The knock on the door came not a moment too soon. Macey answered.

"Zach? What are you doing here?" I had told them about last night, they had interrogated me in a slightly more romantic way than the boys interrogated Zach, but in the end, the same questions were asked.

"Is Cammie there?" His voice came. I walked to the door, trying to calm my inner turmoil.

"Hey Zach." Macey went back to her magazine, "What's up?"

"I was wondering if you were up for a trade?" He held up the sweatshirt. It was then that I realized I was still wearing his.

"Oh, ya! Sorry." I slid the sweatshirt up and off, thankful I had thrown on a tanktop. We swapped sweatshirts, "That it?" Was that hope in my voice?

"Yup, goodnight Gallagher Girl." And Zach Goode was gone.

I closed the door and sat on the edge of my bed, staring at my father's sweatshirt, completely aware that my friends were staring at me, worried for my sanity. "I'm going to bed." I slid the sweatshirt over my head and fell asleep; Zach's scent the last thing my senses registered.


	10. Chapter 10

**Cammie's P.O.V.**

"Cammie! Wake up! I want waffles!" Liz was jumping on my bed. I rolled over and uttered something that was unintelligible even to me. "Come on Cam! No one else will get up! Macey threw a shoe at me!"

I opened my eyes and read the bright red light that was my alarm clock. 9:00 am. On a Sunday. "LIZ! It's way to early!"

"But you need to eat before you go right?" Liz's brow furrowed.

"Go where?"

"On your date! You saw the note didn't you? It was on your nightstand." She handed me a piece of regular paper.

I scanned the note written in simple, neat handwriting, "Ronnie's parents are going on a trip to town. I'm babysitting. You're coming, I'll meet you at your door. See you at ten, Gallagher Girl. -Z P.S. Remember you don't need it." I smiled inwardly.

"Give me a minute, Liz and I'll be ready in a minute."

I took cursory shower and pulled my wet hair up into a high ponytail. I threw on a dark pair of sweats and the slippers from last night. I put on a fitted t-shirt and pulled on a Gallagher Academy fleece.

"Aren't you going to put on make-up? I'm sure Macey would wake up, she hasn't seen the note." Liz moved towards Macey.

"Don't bother. I want food. There isn't time for both." I stopped Liz before she could wake Macey up.

"She's not going to be happy." Liz looked at Macey's sleeping form, unsure.

"What she doesn't know won't kill her, or me." Neither of us pointed out the stupidity of that statement. In our line of work it was what we didn't know that killed us.

We ate breakfast and returned to the room, to find Zach Goode leaning against our door. "Hey there, Gallagher Girl." The smirk, "Ready to go?"

"How long will we be there?" I was thinking of the homework I had pushed off.

"His mom is a teacher, she'll have any book you'll need. Come on." He wrapped his arm around my waist and pulled my off down the hall.

"See you later Lizzie." But she was already in the room, filling in our roommates.

"Cammie!" Ronnie flew out of the apartment, grabbing my around the legs. Zach placed his hand on the small of my back to steady me.

"Sorry Cammie. We mentioned to him that you might tag along with Zach. He's just really excited." Mrs. Downes smiled at me, gently prying Ronnie off of me.

"It's not a problem, I'm glad to see him too." I smiled at Ronnie. The kid was adorable.

"That's great!" She clapped her hands together, "We'll be back at around ten. You should be able to make cerfew, but I had you excused just in case. Come on in, Ed is just finishing up." She ushered us in. The appartment looked like a bigger version of my mother's with two bedrooms, a full kitchen and a dining area opposed to bar stools. "Help yourself to anything in the fridge, any of the books, television, use the computer if you need, whatever. It'd be great if you could have Ronnie asleep for eight."

A few moments later Ed appeared and the couple left. "Have breakfast yet, twerp?" Zach asked the boy, still dressed in SpiderMan pajamas. He shook his head, "Dinosaur pancakes?" The little boy nodded, turning on the TV and settling in to a riveting episode of Tom and Jerry. "Cam, wanna help me?"

"I'm not much of a cook, Zach..." I wasn't. I was the reason dorms could no longer have microwaves.

"I'll teach you." He smirked, leading me to the kitchen. "First we get out the eggs, the milk and the mix. A bowl, whisk and spatula," He grabbed the items as he named them from random cabinets and the fridge, "Turn the griddle on medium." He instructed me.

"I'm the reason Gallagher suites have no kitchenettes." I voiced.

He smirked, "Come here." He turned me around, pressing my back to his front. He placed one hand on my stomach and grabbed my right hand with his. He directed my hand to the griddle's control. "Press in and turn it until that arrow is pointing at medium." He whispered against my neck, his warm breath tickled. I did as he instructed.

In one quick motion he spun me around and had me pressed up against the island opposite the griddle, this time face to face. "I'm glad you came." I returned his smirk with a smile, "And I was right," His smirk widened, but he refused to elaborate. I felt his hands leave my waist, resting on the countertop.

"Right about what?" I inquired, taking shallow breaths.

"You don't need make-up." He pushed off of the counter, away from me, and went about making the pancakes.

"I-I'm going to go sit with Ronnie."

The rest of the day went quietly, Ronnie was at the age where he could entertain himself but couldn't really take care of himself. Zach and I sat around doing homework, I coached him in Arabic, a language he was struggling in. Zach cooked us hamburgers for lunch, they were great, but it wasn't until around six that I realized Arabic might be the only thing he wasn't perfect at, because Zach Goode, can sing.

I was sitting in the dining area, working on Advanced Chemistry homework. The boys were in the kitchen, Zach cooking once again and Ronnie sitting on the counter playing on his mom's laptop with music playing in the background. I recognized the song as one Macey liked, but I didn't know it all too well. At first I thought I had just forgotten one of the voices, but when I looked up, Zach's mouth was moving along with the new voice. Zach was singing. I openly gawked at him, but he didn't notice because his head was down, chopping up carrots.

"You cast a spell on me, spell on me. You hit me like the sky fell on me, fell on me. And I decided you look well on me, well on me. So let's go somewhere no one else can see, you and me." Zach sung.

Ronnie joined in, apparently only knowing the chorus, "The sun goes down, the stars come out, and all that counts is here and now. My universe will never be the same. I'm glad you came." Zach glanced up, meeting my eyes, "I'm glad you came."


	11. Chapter 11

**Zach's P.O.V.**

I closed the bedroom door quietly. I looked over at Cammie, sitting on the couch. As I watched, she shivered. She was wearing thin sweatpants and an equally thin T-Shirt. The only thing that looked warm were her feet in the fuzz-coated slippers. I walked up behind her, shrugging off my jacket. I laid it down on the couch beside her, "Put it on, you look cold."

"I had a fleece, but I left it at breakfast." She said, turning the page in her Latin book.

"I didn't ask that. I said put it on." She still ignored it. I picked the jacket up and draped it over her shoulders. She looked up at me pleadingly, "Come on, Gallagher Girl, put on the jacket." She didn't, "Please Cammie. It's not like accepting a marriage proposal. Just put the jacket on." She turned her gaze from me, back to her book. "You leave me no choice."

**Cammie's P.O.V.**

His hand grabbed my book from over my shoulder. I turned around to complain but Zach jumped over the couch, landing next to me. "Zach!" He grabbed me around the waist and pulled me to him. I struggled, trying to get out of his grasp, but he just pulled tighter, leaning back and pulling me with him until I was lying on top of him. "Zach let me go!" I wiggled around trying to leave his grasp, but Zach Goode was strong and determined so I had no chance of getting off.

"I'm not letting go, so you might as well stop squirming." He whispered into my ear as I tried to squirm out of his grasp one more time. I didn't work.

"Now what kind of Gallagher Girl would I be if I gave up?" I whispered back. My movement slowed until it came to a complete stop.

He ended up on his back with his head rested on the couch's arm, I lay, doing my best to keep as much space as possible between us, which was pretty hard considering I was pressed between him and the back of the couch, with his arm wrapped around me.

"It wouldn't kill you to get comfortable, Cammie, you know that right?" I met his eyes. They were dancing with mischief.

"You sure about that Goode? You seem to be nothing but trouble." I thought the joke was obvious, but when I felt his body tense against me, I knew I had done something wrong.

**Zach's P.O.V.**

Had someone told her? Everyone at this school knew, after all, not many parents liked the idea of their kid going to school with the son of a murderess. I knew that with the girls coming here they would eventually find out. But the look in her eyes told me she didn't know, so I was able to shrug it off. I picked up the remote and pulled up the guide, scrolling around, trying to find something to watch, or at least have some background noise.

"Cammie, you don't look comfortable." I tightened my hold on her. I wanted to ask her, but I couldn't work up the nerve.

"I'm plenty comfortable." She muttered. "I'd be more comfortable if you let go of me."

"Put the jacket on." I commanded, "I saw you shiver."

"Fine." She caved. Damn.

I didn't like it but I let her crawl away from me. She picked the jacket up from where it had fallen on the floor and pulled it around her. I sat up, leaning against the back of the couch. I figured she would just sit on the opposite end, so imagine my disbelief when she came and sat beside me, leaning her head on my shoulder. I slid an arm around her pulling her closer.

**Cammie's P.O.V.**

"Cam?" He was the first to speak after an hour of silence, we had just sat watching some rerun of some old show. I turned my head so I was looking up into his eyes. Was he going to ask me now? I still didn't have an answer. "Wanna play 20 questions?" Zach Goode did like to keep people on his toes.

"Sure, I'll go first." I smiled. "Favorite color?"

"Blue." He looked into my eyes, "Yours?"

"Green." The color of his eyes.

The game went on. His first crush was on some girl who sang on the KidzBop tapes, he saw her on the commercials and could stop thinking about her. He was eight. _I will never let him live that down._ His first kiss, he refused to tell me. _Wasn't me, was it?_ Out of his best friends, Grant was the one he trusted the most. Quality he found most important in a person was loyalty.

"Ok, my turn." He laughed. "What is the first thing you notice about a guy?"

"What do you think?" I wanted to hear what he would say.

"Cammie! You dirty girl." He laughed.

"Sorry to disappoint, but it's the smile." I laughed too. This was probably the longest conversation I'd had with him in a while and it was great. "My turn, what is the first thing you notice in a girl?"

He brushed a hair back from my face, "The eyes. My turn."

"Better make it good, it's the last question of the game."

"I think it will leave you speechless." The look in his eyes told me he was right.

"What is it Zach?" I said, just above a whisper.

"Would you ever go out with a Blackthorne boy?"


	12. Chapter 12

**Zach's P.O.V.**

"Would you ever go out with a Blackthorne boy?" I held my breath.

"Depends, which Blackthorne boy?" She beat around the bush.

"Grant?"

"Off limits."

"Why?"

"You're two questions over your limit, you know?" She smirked.

"Why is Grant off limits?" I looked down at her.

Throughout our game, her head had left my shoulder. Instead, she was lying on the couch with her head on my thigh, looking up at the ceiling, "Promise you won't tell anyone?"

"Sure."

"He's Bex's."

"Fair enough." Note to self: Make Grant ask Bex out, "What about Jonas?"

"Great guy, but not my type, plus, I think Liz might have a thing for him." Why do I have a feeling I was going to be playing cupid.

"What is you're type then?" Brace yourself folks.

"Now, Zachy? If I told you that, I'd have to kill you."

"Ok then. How about Jake? Is he you're type?" Better not be. He was the only one who might go after her.

"Closer than the other two."

"But..." There had to be a but. There better be a but.

"But nothing." She pause, staring up at me, "He's too cocky, too arrogant. It's like he's a knock off of..." She stopped herself.

"Knock off of who Gallagher Girl?" Of me?

"Superman." She smiled and sat up. I grabbed her around the waist and pulled her onto my lap.

"Then who is Superman?" I asked.

"Clark Kent. Everyone knows that!" I laughed at her attempt to redirect.

"Is that so?" She nodded, "Ok then, what about me?" Moment of truth.

"What about you?" Really Cam? Really?

"Am I your type?" She was still sitting on my lap. This could get real awkward, real fast.

"To be honest, I don't have a type." She smirked

"You had a type with Jonas and Jake." I proded.

"They're different."

"From me?" She nodded. "How so?"

"Don't laugh at me." She looked up at me with big blue eyes, "You're not a knock off."

I felt the corners of my lips pull up, but I refused to laugh, "So then, would you go out with me?"

"Depends, are you asking me out?" I smiled.

"Depends would you say yes?"

"Hey guys!" The door to the apartment opened and the Downes' were home. And Cammie was off my lap, damn.

The Downes' thanked us and we left. We walked the halls not speaking and not touching. We were halfway to her room, near my favorite passageway. I wrapped my arms around her, pulling her with me until I was leaning against a wall and she was lying against me. "Cammie Morgan, we have no curfew tonight. Want to go on a trip?"

She smiled up at me, "Let's." I reached up and grabbed the torch, "Zach! You're gonna burn yourself!" I pulled it hard and fell into the blackness, Cammie falling with me.

**Cammie's P.O.V.**

"Come on Gallagher Girl, you should be used to moving in small spaces." Zach called back to me. This passage was small; I had no idea how Zach, standing at six feet four inches with broad shoulders could possibly fit while I, only five foot six could hardly seem to keep up. The floor of this tunnel was uneven and I kept tripping.

"I'm trying. It's hard to walk." I complained.

"Come here." He turned sideways and I made my way towards him, "Jump on three." He placed his hands on the back of my thighs.

"Zach what are you..."

"One. Two. Three." I jumped. His hands pulled my legs out from under me, wrapping them around his waist. "Arms around my neck."

"Zach, put me down." I was so uncomfortable right now. Not physically though, he held me gently and his body was soft, but firm if that made any sense. Just mentally and emotionally, my mind was freaking out. I had no idea where I stood with this boy, a few days ago I was never going to see him again, yesterday he wouldn't acknowledge me, ten minutes ago he may or may not have asked me out and now he was carrying me through a dark tunnel.

"I am not putting you down. You take too long," Even in the dark I could see the smirk, "I want you to be able to enjoy this, not just see it. Now wrap your arms around my neck."

"Where are we going?" I asked, wrapping my arms around his neck and holding tight. It felt good to hold him, but I would never admit that to him.

**Zach P.O.V.**

We were nearing the end of the tunnel, I could see light trickling through the rocks Ronnie and I had piled against the entrance. "Zach? We're are we?" Cammie whispered into my shoulder. I think she had fallen asleep at some point.

"Still in the tunnel, Cam."

"But where?"

"I'm going to put you down so I can open the entrance." I set her down, destroying any contact we had. I felt empty as I kicked the rocks down to reveal the moonlit lake Ronnie and I frequented. I took Cammie's hand, reestablishing the contact between us, and pulled her through the opening into the cool winter night air.

"Zach, it's cold." She complained wrapping her arms around herself, "Where are we?" I was too busy rummaging in the little cave Ronnie and I had... built.

"Ronnie and I come here every once in a while. Sometimes his parents tag along, I'm sure Joyce wouldn't mind you borrowing her equipment." I grabbed my bag along with Mrs. Downes' bag, pulling them into the open and leaving them on the still frozen ground. "Come here, Cam."

I opened Joyce's bag and pulled out layer after layer. Cam took a step forward, "Take off the jacket," she looked at me like I was crazy, "You can put it back on in a minute, just put this on under it." I handed her a heavy fleece, helping her back into the jacket I had given her earlier.

I helped her get dressed before throwing on an extra jacket. I made sure she would stay warm, I even made her put on the fleece in my bag for good measure. By the time I was done with her, she looked like a big, fluffy, attractive marshmallow. "You ever been ice skating?" I smiled at the look on her face when I held up the two pairs of ice skates.


	13. Chapter 13

**Cammie's P.O.V.**

"Zach, I can't skate." And when I had tried, I got my first concussion; an important right of passage for any spy-in-training.

"Don't worry, Cam. I'll take care of you." He had been calling me Gallagher Girl less and less, "Sit down on this rock and I'll help you lace them up." I did as he said, sitting on the huge stone sticking up out of the early spring snow. He crouched down in front of me and helped me into the skates, lacing them up with nimble fingers.

I waited for him to do his own skates and waited until he helped me stand on uneven feet. He led me to the frozen pond. When we got to the edge he turned around and grabbed my hands, "Ready," there was the smirk. I nodded in response, grasping onto his hands as a lifeline. They were warm, even through the gloves he made me wear.

He pushed off, himself moving backwards, me being pulled along, "Just keep your legs steady and I'll do the rest."

For the next hour or so, Zach twirled me and spun me around. If this were a movie we would have quite a nice movie montage, complete with me falling on my but when I told him I had the hang of it. I didn't. He pulled me back up and brushed me off, pulling me into his arms in a fashion I assumed was to warm me up.

"You never answered my question, you know." He whispered against the top of my head.

"I seem to remember it being invalid, seeing as you were several questions over your limit." I would not answer as long as I could.

"Fine, I'll give you one free question if you answer mine." I could feel the smirk against my scalp.

"Yes." I whispered into his chest. I didn't think about it, I just uttered the first word that came to mind. But once I heard it voiced, I knew it was the right answer.

"Yes you agree or yes you would?" His head left mine, he was standing to his full height.

I looked up and met his eyes, "I would." His face broke out into an actual smile, something that was rare for Zach. "Does that mean your asking me out?"

"I supposed it does, Gallagher Girl." He closed the space between us and our lips met in a sweet and tender kiss.

We made our way into the tunnel. I waited while Zach piled the rocks up in front of the enterance. Where as before there was some light filtering in through cracks and crevices, now the tunnel was pitch black, which was to be expected after midnight. I jumped nearly a foot in the air when arms wrapped around my legs, proceeding to pull them up around a waist.

"Why so jumpy Gallagher Girl?" He whispered into my ear, placing a light kiss on my temple.

"Well, I'm in a pitch black tunnel leading between an isolated lake and a mysterious spy school for boys." I mumbled against his neck.

"With your new boyfriend." He smiled against my temple.

Boyfriend. He was my boyfriend. Zach Goode was my boyfriend. I smiled at the thought. Sure, I had dated Josh, but Zach was a whole new scale for, well everything. He was cockier, he was more arrogant, he was more sarcastic, more mysterious, more cryptic. On the other hand though, he was playful and funny and caring. He was the boy who offered my candy when I was hungry, gave me his sweatshirt when I was frozen and his jacket when I was cold, he carried me when I was having difficulty. He was the boy who would annoy you to no end, but when you needed it, he would go to the moon and back.

"I suppose that's true." I closed my eyes, leaning my head on his shoulder.

**Zach's P.O.V.**

Cam had fallen asleep almost as soon as her head hit my shoulder. I relished in the felling of her even breathing hitting the side of my neck. I made my way carefully through the tunnel, taking the branch that led to a hallway near Cammie's suite. I peaked out into the hallway before emerging from behind the portrait.

I waited until Tina Walters went back into her room before slipping out and down the hall. I knocked on the door and a instant later Macey appeared at the doorway.

"Hey Macey." She stepped aside, allowing me to enter. I held her with one arm and pulled back the covers. I placed her on the bed as gently as possible, I proceeded to pull the covers up and over her form.

"How'd you know that was her bed?" Liz tore her eyes from her copy of the senior history book.

"That one has make up all over. And you and Bex are on yours. Process of elimination. I'll see you guys later, I'm not really supposed to be in here." There were no actual rules since this was technically an all guy school, but I figured people wouldn't take to kindly to this.

The girls and I exchanged goodnight when I returned to my room. Jonas was asleep and Grant was typing away on his computer. "Still haven't finished your C&A essay." An essay on the waltz. How riviting. "Tomorrow, you ask Bex out." I collapsed into bed and made it clear that wasn't up for conversation before he could ask me anything.

**Cammie's P.O.V.**

"Hey there Gallagher Girl." A set of arms wrapped around my waist, pulling me against a muscular chest. So I hadn't dreamed it. "I see you haven't told them yet."

My three friends had frozen just outside the dining hall. Liz was openly gawking, jaw dropped and eyes popped, at Zach and I. Bex looked taken aback, but kept her cool much better than Liz. But Macey, now she had the best reaction.

"Come on, I'm hungry!" She whined. My other two best friends looked at her like she was crazy, "We all knew they were going to get together!"

With that being said, the three of them walked into the dinning hall, glancing back at us every once in a while. There was a lot of chatter from inside, the whole school was probably there by now, scarfing down breakfast before class.

"Ready for heads to roll?" Zach whispered into my ear before stepping to my side and taking my hand.

He led me into the dinning hall, his hand holding mine firm. For a pavement artist, being seen is unsettling, so when the entire dining hall fell silent to openly stare at Zach and I, I felt uncomfortable to say the least. Zach must have felt this discomfort and traced calming circles in the back on my hand with his thumb. I let him pull me down beside him at the table we shared with our roommates and Jake.

"Looks like I won." Jake said, holding out his palm. Jonas and Grant rummaged through their pockets, pulled out their wallets and forked over twenty bucks each.

"What was the bet for?" Zach asked.

"How long it would take you and Cammie together." Jake explained, "Grant said first day, I said less than a week and Jonas said over a week. So, thank you both for making me forty dollars richer."

Zach smirk and Mr. Solomon ascended to the podium, "Ladies and Gentleman. The games have concluded." Muttering filled the halls. Most people didn't even know they had begun, "The winners are as follows," He paused, "Culture and Assimilation, Macey McHenry."

"The sent me to some Russian Arm Dealers Party." She muttered, "Russian drunk men aren't as fun as they might sound."

"Strategic Driving: Jake McClagen." I didn't even want to know, "Development of new technology: Jonas Nichols." I went to consol Liz, but she held up he hand, motioning for me to wait, "Research of new technology: Elizabeth Sutton. Together they produced a technology that will soon be appearing in the field. Countries of the World: Rebecca Baxter. History of Espionage: Zachary Goode. Computing: Elizabeth Sutton. Protection and Enforcement, fleeing: Cameron Morgan with two new records: 40 miles in 2 hours, fastest mile in 2.57 minutes." Looks of awe and shock feel on me. "Protection and Enforcement, hand to hand combat: Grant Newman. Language, Overall: Jonas Nichols." It was a tie between the two schools.

"Currently, the score stands at five to five, leaving my favorite subject, Covert Operations. This year, for the first time, we have a tie, both in a subject and in the overall games. Due to outstanding performance during field exercises, Zachary Goode and Cameron Morgan will be sharing the honor."

"I knew it was you." Zach whispered into my ear. "I won."

"Yet you let me and my friends kidnap you?"I gave him a smirk.

"If the winners would please step forward." My friends and I vacated the table, traveling as a pack up to the front table.

"Now, for the real games to begin." Mr. Solomon handed me a stack of folders, each with one of our names on it, "Transportation comes at ten. Good luck."


	14. Chapter 14

**Zach's P.O.V.**

Out of all places they could send us, they were sending us to Rome. Sure they were sending us to a safe house on the other side of the city, but it was still her city. The chances of running into her were slim, like one in a million slim, but that was still too great a chance. We sat in one of Blackthorne's many private jets; Cammie sat beside me, in the back row. Bex sat with Macey in front of us, Jonas and Liz beside them and Jake and Grant beside us, behind Jonas and Liz.

"Ladies and Gentleman," Mr. Solomon stood from his seat in the front of the small plane. "Please open your files."

We did as we were told.

Dylan Murray

Age: 18

Status: American Exchange Student

School: Salisbury School

Notes:

Football Player, History Honor Role, AP Italian Student, Fluent in several languages: French, Italian, Greek, Spanish, English and Arabic, Relationship with Samantha Parker

"You don't happen to be Samantha Parker?" I leaned my head on Cammie's shoulder, looking up at her through my eyelashes.

"Why, Dylan Murray?" She looked down at me, smiling. She reached over and swapped our folders, opening mine in her own lap. I did the same.

Samantha Parker

Age: 17

Status: American Exchange Student

School: Miss Hall's School

Notes:

Track and Field, Cross Country, AP Italian Student, Relationship with Dylan Murray, Sister of Jenevive

"'Fluent in Arabic.' Well, looks like you compromised, Goode." She jibbed.

"Nah, I'm too good for that." I was amazed I could joke when I was moving at a steady pace of 600 miles an hour towards the woman countless government agencies have fought to keep me away from.

We spent the next ten minutes exchanging files with our friends. Bex was:

Linda Modd

Age: 18

Status: American Exchange Student

School: Miss Hall's School

Notes:

Black Belt Martial Arts, AP Italian Student, Native of England

Macey:

Hannah Chase

Age: 17

Status: American Exchange Student

School: Miss Hall's School

Notes:

Daughter of American Fashion Mogul, AP Italian Student

Liz:

Jenevive Parker

Age: 16

Status: American Exchange Student

School: Miss Hall's School

Notes:

Junior President of AV club, AP Italian Student, Sister of Samantha

Jonas:

Mark Rogus

Age: 17

Status: American Exchange Student

School: Salisbury School

Notes:

President of AV club, AP Italian Student, Fluent in several languages: French, Italian, Greek, Spanish, English and Arabic

Grant:

Spencer Mason

Age: 18

Status: American Exchange Student

School: Salisbury School

Notes:

Professional MMA Trainee, AP Italian Student

Jake:

Jackson Kent

Age: 18

Status: American Exchange Student

School: Salisbury School

Notes:

BMX, Mountain Biking, AP Italian Student

"Profiles on your schools. All boys and all girls respectively. The lesser known of their kind. They are schools whose headmistresses graduated from Gallagher, so we use these schools as covers when sending students out into the field." He spoke.

"Your mission. We have received intelligence regarding an ancient terrorism organization, even more dangerous than al Queda."

"By a long shot." I heard Headmistress Morgan speak from her seated place beside Mr. Solomon.

"Anyway," Mr. Solomon sent her a sympathetic look. Cammie's brow wrinkled, trying to figure the meaning behind the look. I already knew it though, "We cannot give more information until you accept the mission." Everyone eagerly accepted, "Zach?"

"What do you think?" I leaned back in my seat.

"Moving on." Mr. Solomon smirked at me, "We have found out they are planning a full scale attack. On us. On Blackthorne." My brothers all looked taken aback, but I had known it was only a matter of time. "They had been targeting Gallagher, but realized Blackthorne would be a much easier target with an equal impact. We need to stop them. We imagine Blackthorne is not their only target. After all, the members we know of, most of them very high up, maybe even leaders, have been moving their families to Rome over the past few months. Most of them have kids who will all be attending the same school. You will be joining them. Part one would be befriending them. Part two is finding the other targets. Part three, stop the attack. Part four, take them down."

**Bex's P.O.V.**

"Are they actually together now?" I asked Macey, hoping for some clarification. I wasn't as clueless with boys as the Liz and Cammie, but I was no Macey.

"Signs point to yes, but..." Macey looked at them in the reflection of our in-seat TV screen.

"But she never told us." I finished for her.

We sat there and watched our best friend lean her head on the shoulder of her maybe boyfriend, their fingers intertwined and a movies reflection shining in their eyes. We watched as their eyes slowly shut, Zach's head leaning on hers.

"They're an item," Macey turned back to her magazine, contempt evident in her eyes.

**Zach's P.O.V.**

"What the hell?" I exclaimed, something hit my face, pulling me from sleep. I opened my eyes to see Grant and Jake grinning broadly, leaning over me.

"We landed Zachypoo! Let's go." They pulled their luggage out of the overhead compartments. I threw Jake's shoe back at him. Jake caught it, "Get Cammie and let's go."

"Good luck Zachy!" Bex called back before disembarking the plane. Cammie doesn't wake up easily.

I stood from my seat, standing in the hallway. I grabbed our two bags in one hand and slid Cammie over into my seat and then up into my arm. I made my way carefully through the plane and down the small stairs onto the landing strip.

"Oh good, you're all here." A woman in her mid forties or so smiled at us, "Let me guess." She pointed at each of us, calling our names off, "Macey McHenry, Hannah Chase. Rebecca Baxter, Linda Modd. Elizabeth Sutton, Jenevive Parker. Jonas Nichols, Mark Rogus. Grant Newman, Spencer Mason. Jake McClagen, Jackson Kent. Which would make her Cameron Morgan or Samantha Parker and you Zachary Goode are Dylan Murray." I didn't need to be a spy-in-training to hear the distrust in her voice. "My name is Bianca Magazzino and I will be your host mother."

"She was and is a Gallagher girl. Get in the cars and you will be taken to her home. Liz and Grant will receive further information. Good luck." Ms. Morgan spoke, ushering us into the two black SUVs.

I slid Cammie into the backseat, about to follow her in until her mother stopped me, pulling me out of the car.

"Zach, she'll be there. If you can't be there we will understand." She showed me compassion, something adults didn't usually show me.

I spoke the truth, "In our lines of work, we're going to cross quite often; I should get it over with now."

She nodded her head and gave me a pat on the cheek, "If you need anything. Call Joe or I. Anytime. We will pull you out. Good luck." I saw her glance at her sleeping daughter.

"I'll keep her safe. I promise." The headmistress pulled me into a hug.

"I know you will." I returned the gesture.


	15. Chapter 15

**Cammie's P.O.V.**

I opened my eyes to a bright light. I waited until my pupils adjusted to the light, that's when I saw it. Outside my window, in broad daylight, was the Colosseum. The Roman Colosseum that was built thousands of years ago. Once I established this wasn't a dream, I looked around the room. I was lying in a soft twin bed. It was entirely white, not off white, but pure, snow-in-the-forest white. The floor was a dark reddish brown wood with a white shag rug lying between my bed and another identical one opposite maroon walls. I sat up, facing a wall with a closet, dresser and mirror, all made from white wood, once again, pure white.

Voices were coming from the other side of the door. I was about to investigate when I was in my uniform still. Call me crazy, but I didn't think the uniform would help me keep my cover too well. I crossed to the closet, finding cloths all with world-renowned labels. Dolce and Gabanna, Gucci, Prada, Louis Vuitton, Chanel, Valentino, Michael Kors, Versace, Vera Wang, Ralph Lauren, Kate Spade. And for the record, a few of them used these businesses as covers. After all, if Vera Wang walks into your party, you don't question why, you just grovel at her feet. Not that she is the spy.

I pulled on a pair of dark jeans and a white turtleneck and made my way to the door.

"You might want to put on shoes. It's kind of a public place outside." I jumped, grabbing the coat rack beside the door and wielding it in the direction of my attacker, "Woah, calm down Cammie." There was Zach. Sitting on a window seat, a window seat I hadn't seen tucked in between the nightstands that stood beside each bed.

"Zach! I was changing!" I dropped the homemade-weapon, crossed the room and swatted at his muscular chest.

"Ow! That hurts Cam." He feigned hurt, grabbing my arms and spinning me around pulling me onto his lap, "I'm sorry, Cam. It was just too good of a chance to pass up. Can you blame me?" He kissed the base of my neck.

"Remind me again why I subject myself to this." I asked him, turning my head to face him.

"Because I have sexy abs and gorgeous eyes." He smiled down at me.

"I never said that." I swear. I didn't. At least not out loud.

"On the plane," The smile grew wider, "You talk in your sleep." I blushed. I did have a dream regarding a certain green-eyed, six-packed boy. It was a good dream.

"I do not."

"Now I know that's not true and you know I'm not lying." He inclined his head, "Go put those boots." I followed his eyes.

"There are four pairs of boots." All of which were designer labels.

"Black boots. And throw on that belt. With the silver buckle." Of course he knew fashion. He knew everything. Except for Arabic.

I did as instructed, apparently I did it wrong though because Zach insisted on adjusting the belt. Pulling me closer with each movement until my nose was inches from his neck. Up close I realized how much taller he was than me.

"You're short." He laughed looking down at me, "Go put on those boots. They'll lend you a few inches." I worked my way into the boots. Zach had to stable me on the three inch heals. Why could no one make an attractive shoe without a heel anymore? At least now Zach was only five inches taller than me, "Now that's better." He leaned down closing the distance and giving me a quick kiss, "Let's go, we are supposed to meet with student guides in a bit. I was just about to wake you up. The others already went."

He walked me out of the room, into the hallway, "For the record, you're sharing the room with Jenny." Jenny... Jenevive. Mission. Liz.

"That's great. Where's your room?" Play the loving couple.

"That one. Number 27. I have it all to myself too." He winked at me, "Feel free to stop by."

"I'll think about it." I kissed him on the cheek when he opened the door to the SUV for me.

"I truly hope you do." And I knew it wasn't the cover.

**Zach's P.O.V.**

The drive to the school was uneventful. We followed the GPS's directions and in fifteen minutes we arrived at the gateway to a castle. Or a version of a castle. It was like prep school meets medieval castle. There was a wall encompassing a huge chunk of land with ivy growing up the side. We pulled up to the golden gate apparently leading to heaven. Through the gates were sports fields of all kinds: turf. There were several buildings, all castle like in nature. There were markings just outside the wall, maybe a yard or so back, probably signaling a cross-country course of sorts.

"How do we get in?" Cammie asked, craning her neck around.

"Watch and learn, Sam." I leaned out the window and pressed the red button beside the speaker.

"Benvenuti a San Matteo Academy. Come posso aiutarla?" A woman's voice came over the speaker.

"Ciao. Il mio nome é Dylan Murray e questo é Samantha Parker. Siamo sentire per il programma di scambio." I spoke in fluent Italian.

"Sí. Sí. Si prega di guidare e l'edificio principale." The gates opened.

"Grazie." I drove in.

(**A.N.** Make fun of my Italian, go ahead. I blame Google Translator. The guist of the conversation is Zach introducing the two of them by their covers and the woman telling them to come to the main building)

**Cammie's P.O.V.**

The main building opened into a huge hall, at least four stories high and amount of floor could easily span six normal rooms. "You must be Dylan and Samantha. The American exchange students." A man descended the grand staircase; speaking in a heavily accented voice, "Please follow along with me. I was just going to meet with your group in the parlor. They are here too, no?"

"We left separately. The time change is not agreeing with me too well." I joked happily with the man, who just nodded in response.

We had arrived in the parlor, a room much smaller than the hall, I saw my friends sitting in chairs against the wall, all facing a couch. There were two chairs open at the end of the row. I took the one beside Jonas and Zach sat on my other side.

"Ladies and Gentleman, I would like to welcome you not only to our school, but also to our country. I am Headmaster Micucci. I would like to introduce to you, our newest students whom I believe will help you transition into life here." And in walked children of terrorists.

**Zach's P.O.V. ** (**A.N.** Before Cammie woke up, in the car. Any names of COC members are entirely made up. Crane and Dubois are however Ally Carter's)

"Your targets." Bianca passed a folder to everyone, "She really should be awake." She looked at Cammie who sat, asleep between Bex and I; Grant was in the front seat.

"I'll take care of her if you don't mind." I bit out at her.

She met my eyes in the mirror with a hostile glare, "Fine." She all but threw Cammie's folder at me, but I caught it and smirked a smug smirk at her. "The first," I opened the folder to a young man. He was probably around thirty, if that. "Maxwell Crane. CEO or Crane Corporation." Agrichemical. "He inherited both the company and his seat as a leader of the Circle of Cavan."

She went on to introduce six women and five men, "Charlene Dubois, European Union, in charge of defense spending for that continent." Move troops away from COC's whereabouts. "Elizabeth Moore, suspected Madam, running a prostitution ring, but we assume that is just a front. We suspect the women are agents delivering drugs for Mark Housley, another leader, a well known drug lord." Members of the President's Cabinet, "Dylan Abbot and Sarah Barlow, Secretaries of Defense and Homeland Security respectively." CIA, MI6 and FBI Directors, "Jordan Beckett - CIA, Michael Carter - MI6, Louis Francis - FBI Counter Terrorism, James Gibbs - FBI Counter Intelligence, Flora Lush - FBI Orginized Crime, Garret Morris - FBI White Collar."

"Where does white collar come in?" Bex asked. She was right, all the others were perfect spots for a terrorism orginization to hold.

"They aren't just violent terrorists. Where do you think all the Nazi plunder went?" Bianca spoke sharply, almost as if it wasn't worth her time. She plowed ahead, "Your way in are the kids, most of whom will be in school with you. Decide amongst yourselves who will target whom."

We arrived at an ancient mansion turned bed and breakfast right across the street from the Colloseum. Cam's going to love this. I smiled, pulling Cam from the car.

"Follow me, dears." She snapped right into character, leading us, including our friends in the other van. She led us up to the second floor of the establishment. She pointed to doors, "Linda and Hannah. The Parker sisters. You boys will have singles. I can't be using up all of my doubles now can I?" She laughed, doting host-mother style. "Dylan, Mark, Spenser and Jackson."

She turned around to face us, "The school has arranged for guides to meet with you today after their sports practices. We will meet in the lobby at 3:30 and I will escort you to the school. Then I'll let you do your own thing, I know how teenagers like to be independent and all."

I put Cammie in her bed and sat in the window seat, waiting. Thinking. My mother staged my death? To protect me?


	16. Chapter 16

**Zach's P.O.V.**

I watched the door anxiously. In a few minutes, people from my childhood would be streaming through the doors and for once, I was glad my mother had not a single maternal cell in her body, because never once did it occur to her to send Christmas cards to her many colleagues who sent them to us or bring me with her on her trips, which most of the other kids went to. The kids entered one by one, most in some form of athletic gear. I recognized each and everyone. They entered by age and then by their family's rank.

First was Mark Carter. He was wearing a blue lacrosse uniform, complete with padding, padding that could easily be pierced. His eyes were still brown, but his hair had changed from its original blonde to its current dark brown, chemically by the looks of it. He stood, slightly shorter than me, but he had a lot more bulk to him. I was still willing to bet I could take him.

Next was Daniel Morris. He was wearing a pair of short shorts and a lacrosse pinnie with state of the art sneakers. He was a runner. Even though he seemed serious, he didn't have the runner build, he was bulky, almost the size of Carter. He had green eyes and blonde hair that fell into his eyes.

Charles Abbott led Mollie Moore into the room by her hand. An action that I had done with Cammie several times, do I look that controlling and possessive? I really should stop that. It looked bad. He wore a lacrosse uniform as well, but I couldn't tell if he was wearing padding. He was built like a truck. He was huge. She was wearing a pair of spandex and a tank top made of a spandex-like

material. She was still incredibly attractive. Glossy blonde hair and blue eyes framed in dark eye make up. Her features contrasted with his black hair and nearly black eyes.

Ally Dubois followed the loving couple in, wearing her school uniform, almost identical to Gallagher's. She waited at the door until Evan Francis appeared, wrapping his arm around her waist. He was a swimmer; his hair was wet. A swimmer. He had the brown hair and eyes that were the Francis trademark. They were all pairing up now? What is this? Ally stood at around Cammie's height, making the size difference between the two of them almost the same as that between Cammie and I. As she walked, she flicked back her straight red hair and pushed her sun glasses up on top of her head, revealing blue eyes.

Brooke Housley followed in a sweat suit with half dry hair. She was skinny, but even through her cloths I could tell she was a swimmer. Her eyes were a bright green. Her face was pale and freckled, framed by red hair that seemed to have a curl to it. She kept her gaze down. The daughter of a drug dealer? Shy?

And last but not least, Andrew Gibbs, the only one of these kids I ever had contact with, but that was only once, for an hour, when my mom forgot me at one of her little meetings she had to drag me to. I was just glad Mr. Gibbs came along with his son. They drove me home. He stood only to my shoulders, but his black hair gave him an extra inch or so extra the way it was gelled up.

They lined up in front of the couch and sat at the same time. It was creepy. It was rehearsed. Silence. The headmaster looked at the kids. Mark took the initiative, "On behalf of my friends and myself, I would like to welcome you all to our school and to Italy. I will start the introductions. My name is Mark Carter; I am a senior here."

**Cammie's P.O.V.**

The second guy stood up, "I'm Daniel Morris. I'm 19 and I'm a senior. Late birthday." He offered up a little half smile.

The next guy joined the other two, "Charles Abbott. Senior." His lips rested in a thin line.

"Mollie Moore." The first girl stood. She smiled charmingly at Zach, "I'm eighteen. Senior." I reached over casually and took his hand. The girls eyes snapped to me quickly and then back over to Jake. Guess Charles wasn't enough.

The next girl stood, smiling warmly at all of us, "Hi, my name is Ally Dubois, I'm seventeen, a junior."

Another boy stood, "Evan Francis." He smiled, "I'm seventeen, I'm a senior though. Home schooled."

The final girl stood, keeping her gaze down and spoke in a quiet voice, "I'm Brooke Housley, I'm seventeen, a junior."

And then the last boy stood, speaking confidently, "Andrew Gibbs. Sophomore."

"Now would you kids introduce yourselves?" He headmaster prompted us. We did as told, remaining in our seats, "Now, let's pair everyone off. Seniors please stand." On our side, Zach, Bex, Grant, Macey and Jake stood. On the other Mollie, Evan, Mark, Daniel and Charles stood. "Let's see, Ms. Moore take Mr. Kent." Jake's eyes lit up. The fact her boyfriend was three times his size didn't seem to phase him. "Mr. Abbott, Mr. Murray. Mr. Morris, Mr. Modd. Mr. Francis, Ms. Chase. Now Juniors." I stood, along with Jonas, Ally and Brooke. "Ms. Dubois, Mr. Rogus. Ms. Housley, Ms. Parker. And Mr. Gibbs can pair up with the younger Ms. Parker.

"School starts tomorrow at eight thirty. You will meet your guides in this room at, shall we say eight? That will give you plenty of time to find lockers and classes. Good luck."

* * *

"Do you see this uniform?" Bex cried out, spinning around in the uniform. We were all sitting in Macey and Bex's room. I was on the bed between Zach and Macey, who refused to even glance my way.

"It's adorable." Macey said the same time I said, "It's almost as short as that skirt I had to wear at the ball game."

"I agree with Cam." Bex said, standing in front of the full length mirror and trying to pull the hem down.

"Don't be knocking the short skirts, right Goode?" Jake leaned forward to look past Macey and I to Zach.

"Man's best invention." He chuckled when I swatted at his chest, "Hey!" He wrapped his arms around my waist pulling me onto his lap. "It's not nice to hit." He started to tickle me causing me to wiggle around on his lap. He seemed to like that and continued tickling.

"Would you two stop?" Macey yelled, twisted to face us.

"Calm down drama queen." Zach laughed it off, still tickling me, but I tried to stop squirming; Macey was dead serious.

"I will not calm down. You're stealing our best friend." He was not! "I mean no one even thought to clue us in to this!" She flailed her arm, indicating the two of us.

She was right. I never did tell them. I had meant to, but right I fell asleep on our first date then the next morning we were shipped off to Rome. "Guys, out. Now." Zach let me stand, following me up.

Grant and Jonas all but scurried out of the room, Nick followed. "You ok?" Zach leaned in pressing his lips against the top of my head.

"I'll be fine. Now go."

"If you need me just call." He squeezed my hand before leaving, closing the door behind him.

"He seems sweet." Liz said quietly after a full forty eight seconds. Her words set off the Macey-bomb.

"How could you not tell us?" Macey yelled, "When did this even happen?" She went on yelling your basic who, what, where, when, why and how questions.

"Remember when Zach dropped off the sweatshirt?" I started.

"The one you slept in." Macey took the lead, nodding along with her answer.

"Either he slipped in the sweatshirt or he snuck in later and left a note on my table which Liz found that said..."

"Ya, ya, ya. We know that part. Liz told us. Babysitting. Move on." I was learning why Macey's parents let her do whatever she wanted; when she's mad, she's scary.

"He took me ice skating." Didn't know that now did you? "We snuck out through a passage way and we went ice skating."

"Cam, you suck at ice skating." Bex was there for my first ice skating attempt. She had thought it was downright hilarious.

"Zach made sure I didn't die." I smiled, "Then he asked me out and I accepted. The passageway was pitch black and uneven, but he knew it so he carried me and I fell asleep."

"And then the next morning we rushed her to breakfast since we all woke up late then we were shipped off here." Liz defended me.

Bex and Macey were silent, staring at me with arms crossed. Bex spoke first, "So you really didn't have time."

"I should've made time. You're all my best friends. I should've made sure to tell you." It was true.

"Whatever. We want details!" Macey screeched, jumping onto her bed, pulling me down with her.

For the next hour or so I had a good chat session with my girls. One that involved boys, but not bugging their rooms, or sneaking out, aside from the ice skating escapade. They asked me about kisses and cuddling sessions and so on.

"So let me get this straight. Your mom gave him permission to stay with you and he slept in a chair?" Macey inquired after I told them about the night I ran the race, "You sure he's straight?" We all started laughing.

"My mother was in the other room! What was he supposed to do?" I squeezed out through my giggles.

"You'd be amazed at what you can get done with a parent in the other room." Macey shrugged.

"My mother is a spy! I think she'd hear a little more than your senator father." I giggled.

"I bet he'd be good." Macey mused to herself.

"I second that." Bex was laying on her bed and kicked up her leg, like raising a hand.

"What do you mean?" Little Lizzie smiled up at us from her place on the floor leaning against Bex's bed.

"She's saying Zach would be good in bed." Bex explained, but Liz still looked confused still, "I am going to put this in terminology as scientific as possible, ready Miss Girl Genius. Macey McHenry is saying that Zachary Goode would be a pleasurable sexual partner. Catch that?"

But it wasn't Liz's voice that answered, "Well thank you girls." There, in the doorway leaning against the doorframe. How did we miss the door opening? His smirk was on his face and his eyes were dancing playfully, "Guess we'll have to try it out sometime, Cam." He winked down at me, where I was on the floor, leaning against Macey's bed, mirroring Liz's position, causing me to blush profusely.

"Whadda ya want Zachy?" Why does everyone call him Zachy?

"Well, Rebecca," he retorted. It worked because she wrinkled her nose, while his face stayed playful, "That's right, two can play that game. Any way, we were going to dinner, you girls coming?"

"They never gave us cash though." I looked around at my friends curiously.

"Oh ya, I forgot, here's a credit card. Government issue." Jake appeared in the doorway, tossing a little gold card to me. Wonderful. Unlimited and untraceable credit card.

"Food!" Liz jumped up and blew past Zach. How that girl stayed so skinny was beyond me. She loved food.

"I guess that's a yes from them..." Zach prompted. Them?

I looked around for Bex and Macey, but they were already up and out the door, "Oh, ya, of course."

Zach smiled and helped me up. He took my hand, but when I went to follow my friends he pulled me back, "Cam, you know we will not do anything you don't want to do. You know that right?" He mumbled into the back of my neck.

I turned around and faced him, "I know." I stood on my toes and kissed him on the cheek, "Thank you." He smiled down at me and kissed my forehead, "Now let's go, I haven't even eaten breakfast."


	17. Chapter 17

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**A.N.**I don't normally do this, but I decided to dedicate this chapter to the top three reviewers. JoeSolomonGirlie with 16 reviews (that's one per chapter! I almost died of happiness), Chameleon101 with 15 (almost died again), and a guest viewer (I'm assuming it's the same person) by the name of LoudNProud with 12 (who am I kidding, I almost died with all of them!) Thanks so much to everyone who reviewed! It never fails to put a smile on my face!

**Zach's P.O.V.**

"So, anyway, there we were on top of the slope and my skis break, my boot wouldn't catch the ski." Grant waved his hands about, almost nailing a waiter while he tried to set a plate in front of Grant, "Oh, sorry man. But what did my good friend Dylan do? He said 'See ya, Bro,' hoped on his snow board and took off down the hill."

We all laughed, thoroughly enjoying the food and the company. That is until we went to pay the bill, "It's already been taken care of." The waiter said when I handed him the card.

"By who exactly?" Jake spoke up.

The waiter pointed to a table in the understood VIP section. There they were. A group of Cavan kids. There were four of them. Ally Dubois, Evan Francis and Brooke Housley were there along with another girl, Catherine Carter.

It was Ally who stood, followed by Catherine. Ranked three and four respectively. Ally led Catherine over to us, "Hey guys! Brooke noticed you guys over here and decided that this could be our welcome gift to you!" Ally spoke.

"Anyway, we were going to head over to a club. Wanna join?" Catherine spoke.

"We would love to, but who are you, love?" Jake tried to play it cool.

"Oh! I'm Catherine Carter, I think you met my brother today." She smiled at him.

"I'm only sixteen though, I can't go. Neither can any of you!" Lizzie pointed out.

"That's only a problem in the states. Plus, Brooke's mom owns the place." Catherine shrugged it off, "You coming or not?"

**Cammie's P.O.V.**

The music was blasting, louder than needed. The strobe lights lit up the dark club in various colors. One minute all the dancing couples were red, then dark, then purple, then dark again. And on the subject of dancing, this wasn't dancing. This was full on dry sex. It was rediculous.

"What are we going to do?" Liz looked panicked. I don't blame her.

"We have fun!" Macey yelled pulling Jake off to the bar.

"Jenny. Go home, you're too young for this." Her cover was the same age we all actually were, but I had to play the big sister.

"I'll take her home." Jonas offered, looking equally as uncomfortable. The two left, planning on taking the subway.

"Why do I doubt we can just have fun?" Grant whined, catching the silent conversation Bex and I were having.

"You two have fun, we'll take care of business." Bex volunteered before disappearing with Grant.

"So what do you want to do?" Zach asked at me, offering a half smile while running a hand through his hair. Even Zach Goode was affected by the awkwardness of this situation, after all we had no choice other than dry hump.

I swallowed the nervous lump in my throat and pulled him along towards the dance floor, "When in Rome." I turned around, leaning my back against his chest, copying the other dancers, but Zach pulled away. Not a lot, just enough that we weren't as close as the others; we wouldn't be dry humping. His arms wrapped around my waist and he rested his chin on my shoulder, swaying us to a beat much slower than that of the music.

"It doesn't matter where we are," he spoke into my ear, "You're still you. And this," he gestured about, "Isn't you."

It was in the crowded nightclub with the smell of sex in the air that I came to the realization. I had absolutely made the best decision I could have when I agreed to being Zach's girlfriend. He knew me. He knew how I had over a hundred sisters I would die for, how I could disappear without a crowd, he knew I wasn't a homeschooled girl with a cat named Suzie. He might be cocky and over confident, but that was Zach, it's how he protected himself. Once you got passed the layer of armor, Zach Goode was one of the best men a girl could find. He stays with you when you're sick, he carries you when you're tired, he takes care of you. And now, here he was, a teenage boy in the middle of a crowded club, the perfect excuse to have some fun, and he was passing it up, all because he knew I wouldn't want it. It was then that I realized I loved Zach Goode.

I leaned back into him, mirroring the other couples. He understood and held me tighter.

**Jake's P.O.V.**

"Ok, Hannah. Time to go." I tried to get Macey off the table where she was dancing, "Come on, gotta go."

"Why Jackyson!" Even drunk she kept her cover, "I'm having fun! I think you need to loosen up."

"Fun's over, let's go." I spotted Grant and Bex coming out of a private door. They exchanged a few words before Grant veered off to the right and Bex came over to me.

"Hannah. We found a great new party! We're gonna head over." Bex yelled up to her friend.

"Oh! Party time!" Macey jumped down, stumbling into me.

"Jackson? Can you get her out of here?" Bex knew Macey was too drunk to walk.

"Sure." I picked her up bridal style and carried her out the door to the black SUV. Bex unlocked the door and we got in the car.

"Zachy-wachy is going to kill you if he doesn't get to drive." Macey slurred, Bex was in the driver seat. Macey was right, Zach wouldn't like that.

"He'll live." She shrugged.

"Your funeral." I laughed as Macey bounced around in her seat beside me.

**Zach's P.O.V.**

"And here it is!" Liz exclaimed when the screen finally loaded, "The entirety of Mary Housley's hard drive and her hidden flash drive."

"Nice work finding it in that book." Cammie complimented Bex, "Where's Macey?"

"She's in our room with Jake. She's passed out drunk." Bex laughed sliding down on Cam's bed.

We had just gotten back from the club. It was late, 1:23 in the morning. We were all, minus Jake and Macey, sitting in the room Cammie shared with Liz. I sat on the floor leaning against the wall. Cammie sat in front of me between my legs, leaning back against my chest. I had one arm around her, holding her close to me.

"Ok, so here is stuff strictly about the club." Jonas gestured to the projected image on the wall opposite me.

I'm not exactly proud of it, but I kind of zoned out of the presentation of Housley's documents. All of a sudden it was real. Blackthorne was in real danger. Blackthorne and probably a bunch of other government agencies were being targeted in a terrorist attack. Blackthorne, no how much I complain about it, was my only home. The only one I had ever known.

"Lizzie, that's all pointless." Cammie leaned her head back against my shoulder, "Is there anything about the attacks?"

"I'm glad you asked Cam." Jonas answered, "Because we managed to decrypt the files on a flash drive."

**Cammie's P.O.V.**

"This is not good." Was all I could say. Everything was being targeted. It was like 9/11 all over again. "We need to stop it before it starts."

"Send it to Mr. Solomon." Zach chest vibrated as he spoke, "When's it scheduled for?"

"Couple weeks. We have time." Jonas answered.

"Exactly how much." I demanded.

"Date wise? April 30th. It's the 14th. We had sixteen days." Jonas explained.

"Tell Mr. Solomon. Ask him if he still wants us on this." What was Zach talking about?

"We can handle it." I stated.

"Cammie. There is only a few weeks and the entire American government is being targeted."

"So? We can handle it." Normally Zach would agree.

"Some of us have a lot more to lose than others." He stood from behind me and stormed out of the room.

"He didn't tell you did he?" Grant asked.

"Tell me what?"

Grant seemed to contemplate something before saying, "Go ask him about Catherine." Catherine?

I nodded and stood, going after him.

I pounded on his door. He didn't respond, "Come on Zach, I know your in there."

"Cam, I'm going to bed, it was a long night." He still didn't open the door.

"Zach, we need to talk." I continued pounding on the door, "Please, if we're going to make this work..." The door flew open. Zach caught my knocking fist before it hit his nose, "Sorry."

"It's fine. Now what do you want to talk about?" He didn't invite me in, he didn't offer a smile. He just stood there. In his pajamas, which were comprised of low-slung sweatpants, "I thought you wanted to talk, not ogle me."

I snapped my eyes away from his abs up to his eyes. "Sorry."

"You said that already." He stepped back. I took a few tentative steps into the room. He closed the door behind me and leaned his back against it, he kept his head down with his hands in his pocket.

"Zach, what's wrong?" I shifted my body, trying to make eye contact.

"What are you talking about? Nothing is wrong." He still didn't look at me.

"You can tell me. What's wrong?" This time he did look up at me. His eyes were red.

"Blackthorne is my home. I grew up there." He whispered.

"I grew up at Gallagher, I don't know what I'd do if it was Gallagher." I said, "But I do know I'd want to do everything I-"

"Cam, you don't get it. These people, they are really bad guys. I know what they're capable of!"

"What do you mean?"

He took a deep breath, "I told you I lost a parent. I never met my dad."

"And your mom?" I pressed.

He crossed the room and sat on the bed, "She's..." he looked bown at his hands before staring at a blank space of wall, "She's a member of the Circle of Cavan. Close personal friend of Dylan Abbott. She's just below the guys we're targeting."

I said nothing. Just stared at the child of a terrorist.

**Bex's P.O.V.**

"Who's Catherine?" I asked of Grant, standing outside my bedroom door. He looked like he wasn't going to tell me, "Tell me Newman. I'll find out eventually."

"Zach's mom."

**Zach's P.O.V.**

I was aware of Cammie staring at me, but I stayed staring at the wall. I was just as bad as all those kids. I was the child of a murderer, of a terrorist.

Fifty-six seconds later and I felt the bed lower. Cammie sat beside me on the bed, she put her hand on my thigh. "You aren't her." She stated, "Zach, please look at me. You aren't your mom. You're one of the good guys." I leaned forward, placing my elbows on my knees and looked down at the floor. "Come on Blackthorne Boy. Look at me." She tried to get a smile. I decided to throw her a bone and turned my head, looking up at her, "You are not her." I turned my head back down.

Maybe it was the look in her eye or her warm smile. It was strange; whenever people found out about my mom they want nothing to do with me. But Cammie wasn't one of those people.

She stood up, I thought she was going to leave, but she stood in front of me. She kneeled, "Zach." She stuck her hand under my chin and tilted my face up so I had no choice but to look in her eye, "You. Are. Not. Her."

"Why aren't you freaked out? Most people do." I gave her a sad smile.

"You haven't changed, Zach." She ran a hand through my hair, "Your are the same Zach Goode you have always been. Who your mother is doesn't affect that. You're still the Zach Goode I love." Love?

"Wait, what?" Smooth Goode.

She took a deep breath, "I love you, Zach."

This time I actually smiled at her. I leaned back and opened my arms, "Come here?" I posed it as a question. I didn't want to force her to do anything, but she still stood and climbed into my lap. I pulled her in closer, encircling her with my arms. I kissed her on the top of her head. I could feel her breath on my neck. I left my lips against her head, "I love you, Cammie. Never forget that." Her breath stopped on my neck for a moment, but it resumed and she wiggled in closer.

"Do you want me to stay here tonight?" She asked me, her lips moving against my neck.

"Only if you want to." I smiled, but she didn't see it.

That night I fell asleep with Cammie in my arms. It was the safest I had felt in years.

**A.N.** I'm going to be honest, I couldn't remember what color Cammie's eyes were. They were either brown or blue and I was too lazy to check.


	18. Chapter 18

**A.N.** There are a couple sex references in here. I think it's appropriate, nothing explicit, but I wanted to send a warning in case.

**Cammie's P.O.V.**

I blinked my eyes, trying to comprehend the sight in front of me. This wasn't my room. I blinked my eyes a few more times, trying to comprehend what was going on. That was when I felt the strong arm around me and the hard chest against my back. Zach.

I placed my hand over his, resting on my hips, "Morning." His lips were on the back of my neck.

I turned over in his arms, looking into those beautiful green eyes, "Good morning." He lay on his back and I followed him, lying my head on his chest. I wrapped an arm around his lower stomach and slid my leg over one of his. "What time is it?"

"We have time." He curled his arm around me, rubbing circles with his thumb on my waist.

"What time is it?" I smiled.

"It only six. It takes fifteen minutes to get there. We need to be there by eight. Leave here by seven forty five. Do you take that long to get ready?" He smiled down at me.

"I don't, but Macey will." I laughed.

"Gimme a minute." He slid from under me and climbed out of the bed.

"Where are you going?" I sat up in bed, but he was already out the door.

He returned in a moment and dropped a pile of cloths on the bed. "Uniform and I grabbed your pouch thingy. I saw it had a toothbrush..." He trailed off.

"Thanks." I stood and crossed the room, planting a kiss on his lips.

"Now go get dressed." He laughed.

I pouted, "But I won't take that long."

"Go get ready, then we'll talk."

"But I don't have und-"

"I got them. They are under the tank top. The shirt on Bex was a bit see through. Grant loved it." He chuckled. I swatted at his chest for the millionth time, "What? I got you the tank top!"

"That's for going through my underwear drawer." He threw a pillow at me and I ran to the bathroom for protection. I could hear him chuckle as he opened his drawers.

"I have to say, I really love that uniform." Zach chuckled when I emerged. He was lying on the bed fully dressed already, "I'm going to go brush my teeth."

"I'm going back to bed." What? I still had well over an hour.

I walked over to his bed and lay down, curling up under the covers. I must have closed my eyes, because after a few moments, I felt Zach snuggling up behind me. Never would've pegged Zach Goode as a snuggler, but I liked it. I kept my eyes closed and relished in the feeling of him playing with my hair.

"Zach! Zach!" Liz's voice came from the other side of the door, shortly joined my those of Macey and Bex.

I swore in German under my breath as Zach called, "Come in."

The three of them burst into the room and I burrowed myself deeper into the covers, turning to face Zach. I hid my face in his chest, I wanted just a few more minutes of quiet and comfort.

"Zach! Where's Cammie? We can't fi-" Liz rambled, but Macey cut her off, "We'll leave you two alone now." And the door closed.

I peeked out from under the covers.

"They're gone. They saw the top of your head." He kissed the body part in question, "Your hair is going to be all messed up." I shrugged and moved in closer to him. We stayed like that.

**Zach's P.O.V.**

"So, how did everyone sleep?" Macey asked. I could tell she was glaring at me in the reflection of the rearview mirror, but I kept my eyes straight ahead on the road.

"Oh! Just fine!" Bex exclaimed, "How about you Cammie?" Bex's glare joined Macey's aiming at me.

"It was good. Nothing out of the ordinary." Cammie shrugged it off, continuing to flip through the curriculum. "We are going to be in Spanish 4 as our foreign language. You should see this, it's seventh grade stuff."

"Come on Cam, we know that's not true." Macey taunted.

Cammie ignored her and laced her fingers through mine where it sat on the consol. I gave her hand a quick squeeze, which she returned.

"Cammie... we wanna know!" Bex whined.

"What do you want to know?" I smirked, I had a feeling I already knew the answer to Cam's question.

"Did you too sleep together?" Macey demanded.

"Yes." Cammie shrugged.

"Cam," I looked at her, "They don't mean sleep sleep. They mean..."

"OH! Oh! No." She blushed a deep red. I smirked. Macey and Bex openly laughed.

**Liz's P.O.V.**

"So, think Goode got any last night?" Jake joked from the passenger seat.

"Nah." Grant smirked, "She wouldn't be able to walk."

The guys all laughed. I didn't understand what they meant, so I just shrugged it off and went back to my Ancient History book.

**Cammie's P.O.V.**

"Um, so lockers." Brooke led my down the hallway, keeping her head down. For a girl with a night club owner as a Mom, she was shy. "This one is mine." She pointed to number 3089, "And this one is your's." Number 3100. "Here is the combination." She handed me a piece of paper, "Do you need help with your locker?"

I was capable of opening locks five times as difficult as these little locks built into the lockers in half the time. But I didn't tell Brooke this, instead I just said, "I got it. Thanks though." I quickly dialed the lock to the numbers written on the paper. The door opened easily enough. I did a quick bug sweep, nothing came up. I would do a more thorough search when Brooke wasn't watching me.

"Let me know when you're settled and I'll show you your classes." She scurried off to her locker just down the hall.

I spent the next five minutes organizing the twenty books the CIA had just bought me. Who spends 400 bucks on mediocre books? Gotta keep the cover though of the privileged private school kid with no sense of value, so I had forked over the credit card without complaint. Once I was finished, I closed the locker and strolled over to Brooke.

"I'm ready."

"And this is our last stop." She stopped right outside an unmarked door. Was this a shop class or something? She opened the door and ushered me inside.

I walked in and spun around, taking in the empty cement room. "Brooke, what is this?" By the time I turned back to face shy Brooke, standing at her full height, pointing a gun at me.

"Don't make me use this Cameron."

**Bex's P.O.V.**

"Hey, Dylan?" I called to Zach across the hall, "Have you seen Sam?"

"Not since we went to our lockers." He ran his hand through his hair, concern etching his face. He turned to his guide, "You haven't seen her, have you Charles?"

The boy looked puzzled, "Nope. She's probably with Brooke in the library or something. She's kind of our groups dork."

"Who makes up this group?" I batted my eyes at Daniel, "And how do you get in?"

"Twelve families. Very exclusive. Been friends for generations." He smirked at me. This wasn't a Zach type smirk, this was a jerk's smirk, "But I'm sure if you did a little something for me, I could put in a good word." You sleaze.

**Cammie's P.O.V.**

"Put the gun down Brooke." I took a step forward.

"I'm not going to shoot you." She spoke, loud and clear. She was no longer shy, "You just need to listen."

"Brooke what your family is doing is wrong. They need to be stopped."

"I said to listen, not speak. Who are you to say what they are doing is wrong? Spies are just criminals with a government paycheck."

"They are trying to bomb the United States!"

"What?" She was shocked. She was untrained, "My parents are just selling drugs to some guys. They aren't bombing anything." Her voice was sure, but her eyes were full of doubt.

"Do you know about the ring your parents are a part of?"

"The one with the Abbotts and Dubois? Ya. They just sell drugs, some prostitution. It's all here in Italy though. There's no need for the Americans to get involved."

"That's only the surface." She really didn't know. I went on to explain the whole thing.

"Listen. I want to help." Spies need their mind and their heart, but they rely on their gut. And my gut was telling me she was telling the truth, "A family friend asked me to give this to you. I read it."

Cameron.

Get him out of here. Don't undo all my hard work. Brooke will help you. Protect my son.

Catherine Goode

"Zach's alive?" Brooke looked me in the eyes. I nodded, staring at the paper still, "Dylan?" I nodded again. "Catherine said he was dead. That he died like half a decade ago."

"She must have faked it."

"Can I see him? We were never close, I ran into him and his mom a few times at get-togethers, but he was always sweet..."

"Does anyone else know we aren't exchange students?" I asked, ignoring her question.

"I only knew because of Catherine. Are all six of you spies?" I nodded, "We should really get going, class starts soon."

**Zach's P.O.V.**

"Where have you been all day?" I wrapped Cammie in my arms.

"Classes. We might be going to the same school now, but you're still a year older." She smiled up at me, "Now, I've gotta go. Practice starts soon." And she ran off to the track.

"Hannah and I are going to drop off Linda, Spencer and Jack before heading home. Don't forget you have Jenny and Mark. Mark has the keys!" I yelled after her before following my own directions and driving home.

"Joe! They are targeting everyone!" I yelled into my phone, "You need to get us out of here and send in professionals!"

"Hate to break it to you Zach, but you are the professionals. You need to take care of it."

"At least send in back up." Again he denied my request, "Thanks for nothing Joe." I threw the phone clear across my room.

"Grrr..." Macey's voice came from the door, "Zachy angry. Thought you'd like to know you have a visitor, Cam says to trust her."

"Hi Zach." In walked Brooke Housley. My cover was blown. I guess it must have shown on my face because her next sentence was, "Calm down. I'm on your side."

"Prove it." She slid her backpack off and placed it on the floor. She riffled through it before pulling out a stack of folders and throwing them at me, "What are these?"

"Your mother said you would need some help. She wants you out of here ASAP. Each folder corresponds to a family. It contains the basics. Address, alarm codes, phone numbers, more indepth profiles than the crap I'm assuming you were given."

**Catherine's P.O.V.**

"You gave it to them?" Solomon's voice came from the other side of the phone.

"I made sure they got it." I answered, reclining in my chair.

"Good. They will be coming at you hard now. Make sure they trust you."

**Cammie P.O.V.**

The rest of the week went smoothly, until Friday afternoon. Today, we were surveying the place. It was a seemingly harmless and vacated property, but I was willing to bet it was layered with security. We kept our eyes open, surveying the tree line, watching the ground. I found out Zach had a knack for finding land mines.

We went on foot, in partners. Zach and I made our way through the thick forest. He watched the ground and I watched the air. Our goal was to reach the building Brooke had told us about. She said that was where all the control was.

The building was two floors tall. No windows, one obvious door (four potential secret entrances, I wasn't close enough to be certain.)

"It's all under ground." I whispered. There was nothing to survey. We'll be going in blind

"Let's head back." Zach sighed.

We took a different route. One of the most important parts of a spy's work is legwork, surveillance. And the most important rule of legwork is to never take the same path twice if you could help it.

Zach went first. I followed his footsteps precisely. He stopped short.

"Cam." Zach whispered. I froze, there could be another mine, he said nothing more.

"Zach what is it?" I whispered urgently, trying to see in front of him, but he was blocking my view. All I could see was trees.

"Turn around, Cam." Normally, when on a mission, I would do as my partner said. But the look on his face when he turned to face me wasn't that of an operative in danger, it was the face of a worried boyfriend.

"Zach. What is it?" I said firmly.

"Cammie, you don't want to..." but I blew past him. I stopped only a step or two from where he had been standing.

"No." I stared at the rock, "No. No. No. No." I repeated the word as if the single syllable could change the writing on the wall. I collapsed onto the ground. I could feel Zach trying to pull me away, but I couldn't leave. I couldn't leave him.


	19. Chapter 19

**Zach's P.O.V.**

I lead Cammie through the brush, treading lightly, watching for signs of explosives. We made it to a small clearing, scattered with small rocks. I looked a bit closer. They were headstones.

I froze. "Cam." The word had slipped from my lips. She couldn't see this.

"Zach what is it?" She whispered urgently, coming to an abrupt halt behind me.

"Turn around, Cam." I commanded, turning around, ready to push her along.

"Zach. What is it?" She said, she wasn't going to let this go.

"Cammie, you don't want to..." but she was already past me. She didn't go far though, she stood in front of the closest rock.

"No." She was shaking her head, "No. No. No. No." She collapsed onto the ground. Her hands clawing at the dirt. I bent down, trying to pull her away, but she wouldn't leave.

"Dutchess." I called into my comms. "Get the car over here now. Approximately two miles to the east of its current possition."

"Cammie, come on, Bex will be here soon." I tried to get her to at least stop her clawing, but she was determined, "Cam, you're not going to do any good this way." I was able to stop the clawing. The car pulled up. "Let's go Cam, the only way you can help him is by avenging him. We need to get in the car." I managed to pry her off of the head stone. With a fair amount of difficulty, I threw her over my shoulder and carried her to the car. She kicked at me, catching me where the sun don't shine a couple times and clawed at my back through my shirt.

I threw her into the backseat before jumping in after her. "Go!" I commanded Bex. Cammie was still climbing over me, trying to get back out.

We flew through the streets of the Roman countryside. Cammie's fight was slowly diminishing until she sat in her seat staring straight ahead. She barely moved, which is saying something since Bex Baxter cannot drive.

We got to the bed and breakfast at midnight; right when we had said we'd be back. We all got out, except for Cammie. I walked around to her side and opened the door. I helped her out of the car. She moved on her own accord, but she didn't seem to be paying attention, just staring into oblivion. I guided her up to her room. It was empty. Then I remember Liz was with Jonas, trying to come up with a digital version of the old floor plan Brooke had slipped us.

I led her to her bed, sitting beside her. "Cammie, do you want to talk about this?"

She shook her head. I wrapped my arm around her waist, pulling her closer. We sat in silence, I was watching her hands fidget in her lap while she stared at the wall.

I was taken off guard when she moved; fast and effective. One second she was sitting beside me, the next thing I knew she was straddling my lap, her arms locked around my neck, kissing me hard. She leaned forward, following me as I leaned back onto the bed. I didn't know what to do so I just let instinct take over. I placed my hands on her hips pulling her closer. The kiss deepened, I knew I had to stop it, but I just couldn't figure out how. She pulled back after a full five minutes, she leaned back down kissing along my neckline while she struggled with my shirt buttons. All the while I kept thinking how we needed to stop, how if we didn't do it now I wouldn't be able too.

"Cam. Cam." She pulled back, looking down at me.

"What's wrong?" She leaned back down, going back to my neck.

I grunted and flipped her over. I straddled her, holding her down, "Cam, you don't want to do this."

"You don't know that." She tried to reach up to me. This wasn't Cammie.

"Cammie, please. You'll regret this in the morning. We need to stop now."

"But I don't want to." She laughed.

"Cammie." I stopped there, just looking her in the eyes.

Forty three seconds later and a single tear trickled from her eye, "He's really dead?"

"Looks that way." She started crying, sobbing actually. I moved beside her, she curled up beside me, leaning her head on my chest. I felt my chest getting wet, she had actually succeeded in getting a few buttons undone. I held her, stroking her back with one hand and rubbing circles in here hand with my other, "Cammie, everything's going to be ok."

"Zach, my dad is dead." She looked up at me, tears filling her eyes.

"How's Cam doing?" Liz asked worriedly when I joined everyone in Jonas's room.

"As good as she can be." I collapsed on the bed. Subduing, resisting and comforting a girl friend can take a lot out of a guy. And yet for Cammie, I would do it all over again. Everyday. "She fell asleep a while ago."

"We ran scenarios with and without Cammie." Liz proceeded to walk us through every scenario they had created. "Now the most important question. Will Cammie be joining us?"

"Why wouldn't I be?" She stood in the doorway, still dressed in her mission clothes. He face was streaked with the damn make up she wore for her cover, after all what teenage girl wouldn't wear make up to school?

"Cammie, I thought you were asleep." I made my way over to her.

"I was, but I woke up." She cut me off before I could speak, "You didn't wake me up." She stepped into me, leaning against my now covered chest, "Do you mind if I stay with you tonight?" She whispered to me.

"Not at all. Go ahead, I'll be right over." I kissed her on the forehead before sending her off. "We can't let her go." I stated to the room.

"Zach. If we tell her she can't it will only insure she does." Macey spoke the word of wisdom. She was right.

"I'm going to bed. Big day tomorrow." Everyone said their goodnights before heading back to their rooms. I went over to join Cammie.

"Can I borrow a shirt? I forgot to change." I provided her with what she requested and she went into the bathroom. I changed into pajama pants. I pulled out a tank top, debating on whether I should wear it or not. Usually I don't it's just not comfortable, but usually Cammie wasn't sleeping in my bed with me, "No need to get uncomfortable. You don't like it, nor do you need it." She offered up a watery smile, quoting me. Her face was still streaked with make up.

"Come here, Cam." I ushered her back into the bathroom. "Sit." She sat down on the closed toilet bowl. I took the tank top and wet it. I ran it over her cheeks, cleaning her off.

"Stop, you're going to ruin your shirt." She pushed it away.

"I don't care." Going back to cleaning her up.

"Why are you doing this Zach?" She pushed it away again.

This time I didn't go back to wiping her face, I leaned back on my ankles, "Why wouldn't I do this, Cam? I meant it when I said I loved you. Cammie, I love you. Nothing you do can change that. Plus, you didn't do anything."

"But why are you going through all this trouble? I mean I-"

"Would you do this for me?"

"Ya bu-"

"Cammie. I love you. I will do anything to protect you, to comfort you. Any time, anywhere." I knew she knew I meant it. I leaned up and kissed her softly. I felt her smile slightly into the kiss, latching onto my hair.

The kiss lasted, loving and soft, for over two minutes. She pulled away, needing air. "Thank you." She left her hand on my shoulders, "I think I'm clean enough, let's go to bed."

I turned off the lights and joined her in the full size bed. She laid on her side, facing the wall. I curled up behind her, wrapping my arms around her, pulling her as close as she could be. I kissed her on the back of her neck, "I love you."

"I love you, too." She whispered back, already half asleep.

**Cammie's P.O.V.**

We slept in until five at night, ate a quick dinner then got ready for the job. Zach was ready in less than five minutes, how I envy boys and their short hair. Since Liz and I were already dressed and were just putting on the finishing touches, we allowed Zach to come in and lounge on my bed. He sat there going through my cosmetics bag, every once in a while he would pull something out and asked, "What's this?"

For some reason, his mere presence was enough to make me feel, not happy, but alright. And for some reason, him asking me questions to which I definitely knew the answers made me calm, it distracted me from other questions whirling around in my head.

"What's this?" He held the little package up to his face. Liz's face blushed red and I snatch the item out of his hand, "I'm even more intrigued." He pulled a second one out of the bag.

"It's a tampon, now give it." He made an ew sound and threw it to me. I shook my head smiling, Zach Goode could be such a child at times. I applied the last finishing touches, pulling my hair back into a tight ponytail, "Let's go Goode." I grabbed his hand and pulled him out the door.

I stood in the brush beside Zach. I could just make out the outlines of my friends scattered about, "Operatives. This is Bookworm. Proceed with caution. Wait! Unknown people approaching." I watched a woman carrying a child and leading another, slightly older, child by the hand toward the building. We watched the woman walk into the clearing, the discreetly turned about the clearing, taking in the area. Jordan Beckett. Sixth in command.

She wrapped on a hidden doorway three times before it slid open, I could just make out her voice, "Nina, take your sister and go find Lucy and play." She set the younger girl down and the two disappeared into the passageway. Jordan turned around looking directly at Bex, "Come out with your hands up and no one gets hurt. Yet."

It all happened in a split second. Jake popped up from his hiding space, compromising himself, and maybe Macey, a few yards away. Jordan spun on Jake now, but not fast enough, because he had already shot her in the knee. "That should've been a kill shot." Jonas's voice came over the comms.

"She has two young daughters and now we can interrogate her." Jake justified.

The six of us in the field approached the wounded terrorist carefully. Zach reached her first. Kneeling down beside her, he encircled her throat with one hand, not harming her, just enough to let her know he wasn't messing around. "What are you gonna do? Kill me?" She spat.

"Not if you would just tell us what we want." He demanded.

"We do not let outsiders in." She seemed completely unconcerned about her situation. You know, the one with the teenaged spies.

His voice was low and dangerous, "Listen to me Jordan." She looked taken aback, "That's right. I know your name. And you know mine. You just need to think a little bit. Jojo." He arched an eye brow, daring her to contradict him.

"Zach." She whispered, just before Zach knocked her out with a single, well aimed punch.

"Dude, it was a girl." Jake whispered urgently.

"Ya well, she's also a murderer." Zach stood from his kneeling position.

He walked over to the now closed door, he banged on it, "It's Goode. Open the damn door."

The door slid open.


	20. Chapter 20

**Zach's P.O.V.**

I was sick of this. I was sick of them owning me, which is why I walked straight up to the door. I rapt on it, actually causing a dent, "It's Goode. Open the damn door."

I was aware of my friends diving back into the bush. Sure they were my friends, but they were also operatives in the field and as far as those operatives we're concerned I was rogue. The door slid open with Charles Abbott standing in the doorway, "Dylan, what a you doing here?" he looked truly taken aback at the sight of me. No video surveillance? Sloppy.

"Get out of my way Abbott" I pushed past him. I managed to slip a piece of tap over the door's locking mechanism. Classic

trick. He grabbed onto the back of my shirt and pinned me against the wall.

"Who the hell are you?" he asked. He was one of them now. He was over eighteen which made him just as dangerous as his father. That being said, I felt no remorse when I head butted him as hard as I could knocking him out cold.

"I'm your worst nightmare." I slapped a Napotine patch on him for good measure before moving on down the hall.

"Goode, come in Goode." Liz's voice came over the comms I still had tucked in my ear.

"I cleared the entrance. Come in." I didn't wait for them, the thought of my own vengeance fueling me, pushing me on.

I made my way through the brightly let hallway. There was a door on my right coming up; I approached carefully. There was a small window set into the door, much like a classroom would have. Inside there were eight kids, ranging in age from a toddler to mid teens. These must be the untrained kids. After all, the circle starts recruiting in sophomore year, when the kids are sixteen. Why would that be any different with the circle's own kids?

"Zach?" Brooke appeared from a hidden door, "Were you the one who took out Charles?" she holstered the semi automatic she had been holding, ready to attack an intruder, "They sent me to find out what's happening. He sent a mayday signal. Gimme a minute." She pressed the small device in her ear, "Ya, so he knocked himself out while letting Aunt Jordan in. We really need to get that door fixed." she paused and unintelligible sound came from her earpiece, "Ya, I checked around, no intruders." more nonsense, "I'll be back in a bit, I'm checking up on the kids, just as a precaution." she took her hand off her ear, speaking to me again "I bought us some time. I'm assuming you have back up?" I nodded, "Good, let them know kids at heading their way. We need to get them out of the crossfire."

I did as instructed while she opened the door, "Chameleon, what's your location?"

"Still in the entrance way. We sent The Brit and PrettyBoy in after you. Brit, PrettyBoy you there?" Cammie called in Grant and Jake. They grunted their affirmation.

"We have kids coming up the main hallway. Brooke is with me, get the kids to one of the vans. Bookworm and ComputerGeek, bring them to the safe house Joe set up. Watch the older ones, they shouldn't be too dangerous, but play it on the safe side."

"Nathan! I don't care what Charles told you. He knocked himself out with a door for god's sake! Now go!" she force a boy out the door pushing him along, "Rosa, take care of Joan."

"Who's he?" the first boy asked of me.

"He's..." Brooke was going to try to cover for me.

"I'm Catherine's kid, but you wouldn't know that twerp, now get moving." the boy did as he was told. They all knew my mother was scary, even of they didn't know exactly how scary.

Brooke and I waited until Cammie let us know the kids were on the way to safety before moving on. "How many more groups a there?" I asked Brooke.

"The trainees and the recruits." she said as we moved swiftly along the narrow tunnel, "There are only four recruits, but they are fully trained, ready to take their parents spots. But the trainees aren't trained yet and they learn to kill last, but not counting me there a eight of them."

"I've got an idea. Where are the trainees?" She lead me to another room through a secret passage way with a door much like the other's "Tell them the kids escaped, they ran past you and went outside. Hear that Chameleon?" Cammie agreed, "Take them out."

Brooke shrugged and delivered the news to the set of kids. "Really Brooke? Really?" the younger Housley taunted her sister.

"Just go get them, Emma."

The teenagers ran past us, no one noticed me in my spot beside Brooke. "Brooke, who's the hottie?" Emma Housley enquired.

"I'm Goode." I introduced myself, leaving the rest for her to come up with.

"Oh my God! It's been forever!" She threw her arms around me. I wrapped around the girl I never recalled meeting, "I'm sorry your brother died, we missed you at the funeral... I thought you were living with your dad?" Brother?

"Get going! He's staying with me." Brooke demanded and her little sister ran off. Brother? The hell?

We waited for the trainees to run out of sight before proceeding into the room they had just vacated. "Follow me." She led me through the room and into another secret passageway.

"Who else is here?" I asked.

"Everyone, they are doing a dry run of their attack. Much smaller, much less damage, but enough to make sure it works." She lead me onwards, "Chances are they're in one of the rooms."

**Grant's P.O.V.**

"I can't believe he did that! He literally just knocked on the door!" Jake vented.

"It's Zach, man. Of course he did." I muttered, making my way through the hall.

"So that's how you got in?" A voice came from behind us. We turned around and found two men and a woman, all ready to strike. It was the woman, Flora Lush, eighth in command according to Zach, who spoke, "We don't like trespassers, but I assume you know that."

"Now, you seem to know us, but we don't know a thing about you two, or your friends." James Gibbs, seventh in command.

"Only one friend." They had heard us talk about Zach, so it would be pointless to deny.

Louis Francis, sixth in command stepped up, "Do you take us for idiots? We have cameras and sensors. One is moving through our compound with our little Brookie. You two are here. Two sped off ten minutes ago with the younger children, who I assure you we will retrieve. And three are positioned around the perimeter. They did a fabulous job with the trainees by the way. Maybe we won't kill you. Just convert you." Crap.

Then they struck.

**Cammie's P.O.V.**

Our comms had grown silent. There was no static or voices. It was just silence. And sometimes silence is scarier than a bomb. During silence your mind works harder to find a suspicious noise. A bunny hopping around could be interpreted as an army laying siege. Silence was scary, but at this point, I would glad to go back to the silence, because here I was, standing in the clearing, back to back (to back) with two of my best friends.

Two woman and two men circled us. I recognized them all, thanks to Zach. Mary Housley, number nine. Elizabeth Moore, number ten. Maxwell Crane, number eleven. Garret Morris, number twelve.

"Look at you three," Mary taunted, "You girls were taught well. Gallagher for you girls and Blackthorne for the boys I'm assuming. I remember those days. Too bad my children attending, guess pure field work will have to do."

And with that, the eldest (conscious) circle kids appeared. Mark Carter, Mollie Moore and Daniel Morris joined the circle the adults had formed around us. Three versus seven. Peachy.

**Zach's P.O.V.**

"Chameleon? Brit? Anyone?"

"I don't think your friends will be joining us." I turned. There stood Brooke, standing in the middle of the room, flanked by the four most dangerous members of the Circle. Abbott, Barlow, Dubois and Carter. Each had a gun in their hand, trained on me.

I had no way of leaving this alive, so I threw up my hands in surrender, but apparently, that wasn't enough. I heard the shot. I braced for the piercing bullet to make contact.


	21. Chapter 21

**Grant's P.O.V.**

They were good, not going to lie. But were better. I took on Lush and Gibbs while Jake handled Francis. I allowed my attackers to surround me. Lush threw a high kick. I dodged it, grabbing into her ankle. She was tiny, like Liz tiny, so I spun. My movement caused her to fly into the air and swing her into her accomplice. Gibbs tried to catch her and he did, but he stumbled and that was all I needed. I sent my own kick out and nailed Gibbs in the right knee. He stumbled. I was able to lash out, leaving Napotine matches on each of their foreheads. They slumped onto the ground. I turned to help Jake, but he was leaning against the wall, arms crossed with Francis on the ground at his feet, completed with the napotine-patched forehead.

"Thanks for the help." I scoffed.

"Not a problem. We better get back to the girls." I felt horrible leaving Zach to fend for himself, but we had no idea where he was, at least the girls we could find.

**Cammie's P.O.V.**

This was not good. Seven against three. That's at least two a piece. Without speaking we decided who would take on who. Bex, the best at combat, took on three: Garret and Daniel Morris and Mollie Moore. Sure they were the least skilled out of the group according to Zach's ranking, but strength in numbers, while not something to be relied upon, should never be overlooked. Macey, the newest to the world of espionage and that which in entails, took Elizabeth Moore and Maxwell Crane. That left me with Mary Housley and Mark Carter.

Housley was easy enough to take out, I was amazed she was a governing piece of the Circle. I threw a punch landing it square on her breast. For all you men out there, a shot to the boob hurts. Bad. She stumbled back; using her hesitation to my advantaged I sent a hard kick into her stomach, she fell to the ground clutching it. I spun around, leg still in the air, aiming at Carter's head, but he caught it. I did a flip thing. I think I sprained my ankle in doing so, but his grip was so tight he moved with it. He lost his balance and I kicked him in the head. He was out cold. I ran to Housley, still on the ground and slapped a Napotine patch on her doing the same to Carter.

I turned about, looking for friends in need of help. Macey had taken down Crane and was just about to do Moore in, so I moved my way over to Bex. Moore was already on the ground, Napotine patch on her head. I attacked Daniel from behind. He struggled, but I was able to slap a patch on his chest. He muttered a really bad Italian word before slipping to the ground, unconscious. At this point, Macey was able to demolish her opponent, as was Bex. We stood there, three average teenage girls (aside from the gorgeous Macey), with eight bodies lying unconscious around us.

"How in the world did you manage this?" Grant and Jake ran out the entrance, stopping short at the sight.

Macey shrugged, "Psh, this? I've done worse at a shoe sale." I wouldn't doubt that. At that moment Liz and Jonas came running up.

"What'd yo- I don't wanna know." Liz shook her head, "The comms units gave out. We have no idea where Zach is. They must have a jammer."

I didn't think it through, I just started running, and once I started running, I didn't stop.

**Zach's P.O.V.**

_I had no way of leaving this alive, so I threw up my hands in surrender, but apparently, that wasn't enough. I heard the shot. I braced for the piercing bullet to make contact. _

The bullet didn't hit my chest, my head, my knee, nowhere. I opened my eyes. There she was, in all her glory holding a gun to Dylan Abbott's head. Her dark red hair was pulled back into a sleek high ponytail. She was wearing workout gear: black sports bra, running leggings, dark green sneakers that matched the shade of her eyes.

"I swear, Zachary James Goode, if I see your face on a security screen with five guns pointed at you in the middle of my other work out again, I will let them shoot you." My mother spoke.

"Catherine! We weren't going to kill him! Just..." The gun was pressed against his throat.

"Bull." She yelled at him, "Zach. Get some patches on them." They weren't dead, just shot strategically. Very strategically. As in one centimeter any which way and they'd be dead. I did as she said, I was in no position to argue, "Take Sarah's gun. Come here." I took my mother's place.

She ran over to the control panel, "It would have been nice if someone had told me this was going down tonight." She complained under her breath, "I give up my sons, I give up my life and they don't even give me a heads up." There it was again, sons. I'm an only child. She called to me, "Zach! They already have it counting down. I can't stop it, but I can reroute it. Think we can get out of here in five?" She pressed a series of buttons.

"New target found." A mechanical voice echoed about the room.

"Get out of here Zach." She commanded, I hesitated, "Now!" I ran.

**Catherine P.O.V.**

I watch my boy run from the room, run for his life. He was in danger, which was why I felt no remorse when I shot each every person remaining in that room dead. I clicked away on the computer one last time, undoing the comm scrambler that comes into play when a boobie-trap was tripped.

"Joe!" Some women get boob implants. I got a permanent comms device planted into my earlobe.

"Catherine, what's happening?" Joe's voice came into my head.

"Connect me to the kids." He did so. I heard the group of juvenile voices in my head. This will get annoying. "Everyone stop." They all shut up at the unknown voice. "My name is Agent Catherine Goode. I am a member of the BSO. I'll explain later. Is everyone out of the building?"

"Operatives Cameron Morgan and Zachary Goode are still inside." A girl's voice came.

"Zach where are you?" I called.

"Almost out. Where's Cammie?" His voice was panicked.

"Looking for you." Her voice came.

"Cameron. Listen to me. Are you in a hallway?" She answered no. "What does the room look like?" She described it. "Leave though the western door. Follow the hallway to the left. I will meet you there. Every one else get find cover."

A moment later I could here her breathing as she quickened her pace. I moved to the computer again, typing away, this time, truly the last. And there it was the hidden garage. I had always wanted to do this. I hopped on Charles' motorcycle and took off through the building.

I reached Cammie with only a minute left. "Get on Cameron." She hesitated. I don't blame them for not trusting me, but come on! I'm saving you here. She got on after five seconds. I took off once again, moving in the direction she had been running. "Brace yourself." I called back to Cammie.

I had no idea if this door would open in time, never come at it at 90 miles an hour before. I couldn't slow down, we had less than five seconds and it was at the other end of the ramp. If this door didn't open, we were dead.

**Zach's P.O.V.**

I counted down from where we had hidden, a tiny cave, probably built for the families to use in a situation like this. Whatever this was. Thirty seconds left. No sign of them aside from the comms. I don't know how my mother got on the frequency, but right now, she was Cammie's only hope. Twenty seconds. Ten. Five. Four. Three. Two. A patch of ground disappeared. Out of that hole came a motorcycle with two passengers.

The bike turned hard, stopping. The women climbed off, the second one a bit unsteady. The first one pulled her companion into the forest. As if on cue, the house exploded. Not just like your forth grade baking soda volcano. I'm talking full on, middle of an atomic bomb explosion. If Brooke was telling the truth and this was the mini bomb, I would hate to see the normal one.

"I'm going to guess that's Mommy Goode." Jake inquired of me. I ignored him. That had better be 'Mommy Goode' and Cam, or else I swear, I would go in guns blazing and kill them both.

We waited watching for them to appear. And they did. My mom was half carrying half dragging Cammie out of the brush and into our cave. She passed the semi-conscious girl to me.

"Ms. Goode," Bex started, but my mother cut her off. "Here's the gun. Here are hundcuffs. Give me one minute and you can slap them on me, let me just get us all to safety." She handed the items to Bex whose jaw went a little slack.

My mother moved her hands quickly and effectively along the walls of the cave, pressing harder in certain sections. The cave started moving, getting larger, smoother. I could feel it moving downwards.

"Joe." She spoke to no one, "My location. Get it. Captives are here. Too many to bring with us. We'll come back tomorrow." I saw Bex tense at the word captives, "Yes I will escort the kids to the safe house. I will get the subject."

She started moving forward through the hallway that had been created. We followed behind her, at a cautious distance. Close enough to attack or subdue but far enough to have time to react or retreat. The hallway ended in a metal doorway. She punched a code into the pad beside the door. It slid open. She walked in with her hands in the air as if she was surrendering, "As you know, my name is Catherine Goode. I am a member of BSO. The Bureau of Secret Operatives. Operatives are sent under cover. Once they infiltrate, they are made to look dirty to their own side. They show their supposed loyalty and get even deeper. You have one more day here. Tomorrow, agents will arrive and you will all be sent back to your families. One of you, however, will be coming with us today." She approach one out of the two-dozen cells and plugged a code into its keypad.

The door slid open and a man walked out. He stood almost a full foot taller than my mother. He had blue eyes and all the signs of long-term imprisonment. His cloths were torn and dirty and disheveled. The blondish brown hair was what caught my attention. I had only seen that shade once before. "Thanks, Cat." He shook my mother's hand.

I saw Cammie's ears perk up at the voice out of the corner of my eye. She was standing behind me to my left, directly behind Grant. She couldn't see. "Cat? Really Matt?"

I wrapped my arm around Cammie's waist, pulling her to the front of our cluster. He eyes locked on the man and his locked on her.

"Cammie." He said breathlessly. He opened his arms. She ran to him, jumping into his arms for the first time in at lease four years.

"Daddy." I heard her speak into his neck.


	22. Chapter 22

**Tina Walters**

"But Headmistress Morgan, we were supposed to finish the term at Blackthorne! Why are we back here?" She had come to Blackthorne and whisked us away right after Cammie and Zach's team left, "Not that I don't love it here."

"Tina! Go eat." She spoke, turning into the grand hall. Disgruntled, I took a seat at my table. "Ladies!" Headmistress Morgan approached the podium at the far end of the hall, "As you all know, last semester we were visited by a select group of operatives. Today, we welcome back six of our sisters who had the pleasure to visit the operatives on their home ground." She smiled to herself, "Well, now their home ground is infested with rodents." That's a lie. But I only knew since I was there, "So the entire Blackthorne Institute will be joining us." Where will they keep them all?

For the second time this year, the doors to the grand hall burst open, but this time, instead of fifteen boys, there were more like two hundred and fifteen. Headmistress Morganwas right. The entire Blackthorne Institute was here. In the grand hall. Less than three hours after we had left.

The week past uneventfully, well as uneventfully as a week with two hundred plus boys could pass. Apparently, the had used some hidden passageways in the P & E barn to house the boys. Now house is not a definite term, for all us girls knew, they were sleeping with the spiders among cobwebs in sleeping bags.

It was Sunday night when the limos pulled up. There were three of them, windows fully tinted and, chances were, missile proof. We all crowded around windows and doors facing the drive, after all, we didn't usually get visitors midway through the semester.

The cars came to a stop in front of the steps leading to the main door. Professor Buckingham entered the room I, along with several of my sisters, were standing in, all peering through a large window, trying to get a glimpse at the passengers, "Ms. Lopez, Ms. Stant, Ms. Phillips, Ms. Mason and Ms. Genatios. Come with me." The girls in question left the room.

**Random Blackthorne Senior Guy P.O.V.**

I stood just outside the P&E barn. This position gave me the perfect view of the passengers as they disembarked. The first emptied quickly. Macey, Jake, Jonas and the Sutton girl climbed out one at a time, each one ushering a younger child past the Headmistress and into the grand hall. From the second one came Grant and his girl, once again with a younger child, Bex's was probably younger than ten. Following those four came another young girl, around the same age as Bex's. Zach followed her out, but instead of following everyone else inside, he turned back and leaned down, back into the car. When he came back out, he was holding a toddler. Zach Goode, was holding a toddler.

"Dude. Look at the chick." Devon muttered to me. I glanced at the woman emerging from the car. Porcelain skin that glowed against her all black attire. Her dark red hair was sleekly pulled back into a low ponytail. From here, they looked nothing alike, and yet anyone with a little spy training could tell that Zach and the woman knew each other a bit better than a long car ride.

**Cammie's P.O.V.**

Mr. Solomon climbed out of the car first. Aunt Abby rushed him, pulling him into a hug. Dad and I let the had-been prisoners climb out next. There were only five, the rest had been returned to their respective countries and within those, their agencies. These five had more important standings here, at Gallagher.

"Dad!" Selena Lopez ran to her father who had gone missing on a mission when she was five.

"Mom!" Lillian Phillips rushed her mother who had supposedly been killed in enemy territory when she was twelve.

Three younger girls ran up to their mother and fathers, experiencing a feeling I had been feeling all day. Home, finally felt like home. "Cammie, go ahead." My dad prodded me, moving me towards the door.

I climbed out, basking in the feeling of the Virginian sun, "Hi Mom." I hugged my mother tightly, "I have a surprise for you." She pulled back, cocking her head in curiosity.

As if on cue, which it was, my dad stepped out of the car. He was dressed in a casual suit, all trace of imprisonment erased, "Matt." My mother flew from me and collided with my dad.

I made my way over to Zach who was leaning against the main door's frame, holding little Joan Beckett in one arm. His mother was talking with Mr. Solomon and Aunt Abby, my parents were having their happy reunion so we were on our own. "We done good, Cam." He smiled at me, watching my parents.

"Think I can steal you away for a bit?" I whispered into his ear. I could see his smile change to a smirk.

"Joan, go play with your sister." He set the little girl on the ground and watched as she made her way over to her sister and her friend, Lucy Barlow. "Now what do you have in mind?" He turned his smirk back to me, lacing his fingers through mine.

"Come with me." I lead him through the mansion, up into the north tower. The room was quiet, made of stone, one of the oldest parts of the mansion. I let him walk in first; he took three steps to the middle of the room, spinning slowly to face me.

"So what did you have planned?" He asked, sliding his hands into his pockets.

"I don't know," I really didn't. It wasn't just some ploy, "I just wanted to escape all the eyes."

"I think Tina and her friends set a record. 20 girls' faces to one 3 by 3 window. Impressive." He smirked. Shocker, "But I thought you'd want to spend some time with your dad."

"I could say the same about your mom." I replied. He shrugged me off, saying she was busy, "So are my parents." I walked over to him, "I figured we could use some time alone." His smirk grew, if that was even possible.

"What does this alone time entail?" His hands rested on my hips, pulling me in closer.

"Well, I was thinking..." I grabbed his arms and flipped him. He landed on his back with a groan; I jumped on top of him, straddling his chest, keeping him down, "If you ever go running into a known terrorist organization's base of operations again, they will be the least of your issues." I had been terrified. Enjoyment showed in his eyes. He flailed his legs, flipping us so he was on top.

He lay over me, straddling my legs and supporting himself with his elbows beside his head. It wasn't his body that was holding me down, it was just kind of there, brushing against mine in certain places, some of which sent tingles through my body. But none of those tingles were what kept me frozen in place, it was the look in her eyes. enjoyment was gone. It was replace with determination, seriousness and something that seemed to resemble lust. I had never seen the last one in person, at least not as strong as it was now.

"Looks like the pot is calling the kettle black. Remind me again how you got in the position of riding out on my mother's motorcycle right before a missal blew the place sky high. Imagine how I felt. You had only a matter of seconds, I thought I was going to lose you."

"But you didn't. And you won't." I was his. There was nothing I could do to change that. I had fallen under his spell and their was no way out. I tried to flip us again, but he wasn't having it, he just laid more of his body along mine.

Tingles flooded my body. I wanted more. I moved my head up, setting my lips on his. I felt him return the kiss deep and hungry. Our tongues warred for dominance. I pulled back for air. His lips moved to my jaw line. Starting at my ear and making his way down until he settled on the hollow of my neck. He nibbled at it a couple times, causing me to moan. I pulled my knees up, latching my legs around Zach's waist, pulling him in closer. Zach smirked into my neck, applying more pressure, causing more waves of pleasure to flow through me when a certain hardness made contact. If I was going to stop this, it would have to be now, "Zach."

"I know, I know." He pulled away. I unwrapped my legs and he rolled over onto his back.

"Wait here." I ran down the stairs to a little closet where the girls and I stashed some blankets for our covert meetings we held up her. I ran back upstairs, blankets in tow, "Help me spread these out." Zach looked at me like I was crazy, "What? The stone hurt my back." I threw him the other end of the blanket in my hand, "Do you want to do this or not?" One of the most dangerous things a guy can do is get a girl... worked up... and then leave her high and dry.

He gave me a look along the lines of 'Well, duh,' before actually speaking, "But do you?" Zach Goode, always a gentleman.

"Are you going to help me spread these things out or do I have to do it myself?" I huffed impatiently.

He smirked at me and helped me lay out the blankets before lower me onto the ground in our original position.


	23. Chapter 23

**Cammie's P.O.V.**

"Cammie!" Macey's voice called, "Zach! You guys up there."

I had been in a peaceful bliss, curled up beside Zach in the tall tower. But now I freaked. Here we were in a tower, no way out other than where Macey currently was. "Help me." I mouthed to Zach. I was dressed in under thirty seconds, sure I was lacking undergarments and I'm pretty sure my shirt was on backwards, but considering it was across the room I was quite proud of it.

I went to the top of the stairs while Zach stayed in the back, dressing himself, complete with boxers. Ok, so I was bitter, but hey, you never realize how scratchy a shirt or your jeans are until you don't have something underneath to protect sensitive parts from said scratchiness. "Mace, what's up?"

Even at this distance, I could see the smirk on her face as she appraised my attire, "Come here for a moment would you?" I gritted my teeth and walked down the stairs. Next time I come out in just underwear before I appear without them. "How long did this take?" She mover her finger up and down, indicating my appearance.

"What do you mean?" I pretended to not know what she was talking about.

"Let's see. Missing shoes. Sex hair. Hm. One sec." She pulled my shirt sleeve to the side, "No bra. Panties?" I looked down, unable to meet her eyes, "Under a minute I'd give it." She pause, glancing up the stairs, "He dressed?"

"I don't know."

"Was he good?" I blushed. He was, "That good?" I heard Zach laugh. She rolled her eyes, "We will talk about this later. Your mother asked for me to inform you that she and your father will be having some alone time and was wondering if you guys could skip dinner." Her smile broadened, "I'm assuming you're ok with that? Time for round two?" I blushed, "Three? Four?" Her mouth was gaping, "Didn't think you had it in you, Cam. I'll let your mom know you're ok with it. Have fun. Bye Zach!" She called up to him before sending me one last smirk and sliding past the door.

"So, how good was I?" His arms wrapped around me when I got upstairs.

"Eh, I've had better." I shrugged.

"Now, Cammie, you and I both know that's not true." He's right, "Come on, scale of one to ten."

"Two." He clutched at his chest. His bare chest. His six pack. His... well, you know.

"By the way you're staring at me, I know that's not true." He smirked, "You weren't too bad yourself." He leaned down and kissed me softly, "I love you, you know that right?"

"Love you too." He pulled me in tight. Resting his chin on top of my head. We stayed like that for a while, four minutes and eight seconds, until I spoke, "Can I have my underwear back?"

He sighed. One of his arms left my waist. I could see him reach into the back pocket of his jeans, "Hear." He handed me my bra and panties, "I couldn't help but notice you went up a cup size since last year." Is that what happened to that strapless bra.

"Strapless bras have to be tighter Zachy." I pushed away from him, "Now turn around."

"Nope." He leaned against the wall, leaving nowhere for me to change in private, "Not like I haven't seen it."

"Please Zach." I held his hands up in defeat and turned to face the wall. I quickly undressed and then dressed again. I moved across the room and wrapped my arms around his lower waist. Sliding my thumbs into the elastic band of his boxers that was sticking out.

"We going for a four now?" I spoke to the wall.

"Nope." I backed away, "I'm awfully hungry, I wonder if the kitchen's open yet." I started toward the door, but Zach's hand grabbed mine, stopping me in my tracks.

"How about we go to the room they gave my mom. She said she'd be with Joe through dinner." He smirked, "After all," He ran his hand through my hair, "I'm not so sure you want the school seeing your hair like this." He stopped me when I tried to comb through my hair, "That doesn't mean I don't like it."

"Ok, ready?" I took aim.

"Go." I threw it, "Number twenty three." Zach declared as he chewed the cherry.

"We never actually had dinner..."

"Not my fault you distracted me." He looked at the burnt food in the pan, "Not that I'm complaining." He smirked at me, leaning on the island that separated us, "Plus, ice cream sundays are perfectly acceptable dinners."

"Amen to that!" I declared, sliding another spoonful of ice cream and hot fudge.

The door opened and in walked Ms. Goode, "Hey kids," She smiled, "Oh ice cream!" Her smile grew. She made her way to the fridge and attached freezer to get herself an ice cream

It was strange. Last week, I had assumed she was dead. Then I had known she was evil, and now it turns out she was only deep undercover? I should be able to at least begin to comprehend that, being a spy-in-training and all, but this stuff was confusing. And where did that leave her and Zach? Well, right now it left them fighting over the last few cherries.

"I am your mother, Zachary. Now give me the cherries." She pulled the jar.

"You deserted me." He pulled back.

"I was on a mission."

"Fine." He relinquished his hold.

"I thought you'd see it my way." Zach glared at me as she popped a few into her mouth before sprinkling the rest onto her towering ice cream. "So what have you guys been up to?"

I froze, "Movie marathon in the northern tower, then ice cream." Zach answered.

"No television up there." She spoke after swallowing a scoop off ice cream.

"Laptops. Aren't they great?" I relaxed.

"I'll buy it." She smirked the Goode smirk, "For now." I felt the blood rush to my cheeks, "I bet it would be easier to crack her. She's too sweet." She paused, "Sorry. Too much time undercover." She smiled warmly at me.

"Speaking of undercover, " Zach glanced at his mother, "I heard I have a brother."

Catherine and I both dropped our spoon, "Do you guys want me to leave?"

"No, Cam." Catherine held up her hand to stop me, "Zach," she turned to him, "You had a twin brother." Zach's face resembled a fish out of water. Mouth opening and closing without any sound coming out, "He lived with your father, basic separated at birth situation. When the two of you were younger he tracked me down. Dylan Abbott was over the house and heard the gate slide open. He shot. You were over at Blackthorne, but when he saw your brother, he assumed it was you, no one knew about Spencer." Her eyes were sad when she spoke her dead son's name, "I went along with it. If the son no one knew about had to die, he was going to protect the son people did know about." She paused, "After that, the Circle pulled some strings and got me busted. I went off with them and you stayed at Blackthorne. Sure I missed my son growing up, but he was safe. And if he could get a Morgan, I guess he turned out alright."

I blushed but Zach's face stayed passive, "Ok."

**Jake's P.O.V.**

"So what were you two up to last night?" I asked him when Zach and Cammie sat down across from me at the breakfast table.

"Catching up on homework," Zach said, "You'd think that they'd give you a free pass after you more or less saved the country."

"From what I heard, it was actually Mama Goode who saved the country." Macey laughed at Zach who grumbled something in Arabic under his breath.

"Look at that! You finally learned some Arabic!" Jonas exclaimed, obviously not taking the time to translate.

"There are certain words I learn in every language." Zach smirked. Cammie swatted at his arm.

We all watched as Jonas slowly translated the phrase, making sure to get every word perfect. "Zach! There are children here!"

And he was right. The Gallagher faculty had set up a table for the three younger kids, although they weren't there at the moment, they were off in some room, along with their older siblings, preparing to be introduced. We waited for a bit longer, chatting about regular stuff, ya know, the invisa-serum Liz and Jonas were working on and how predictable that spy show on the USA network.

"Ladies and Gentlemen," Headmistress Morgan approached her podium. She waited for silence to fall before continuing with her speech, "The Gallagher Academy for Exceptional Young Women and the Blackthorne Institute each have proud reputation for remaining secluded, remaining separate. This has remained true for over a hundred years," she paused, glancing at a small door off to the side of the staff table, "Today however, these two institutions will be combined, into a single school. After all, our operatives seem to work better together than apart." And Blackthorne was a dump compared to Gallagher, "So, starting today, you boys are Gallagher Boys." Sure, we had school pride, but when you were given the chance to go to school with girls 24/7 for the rest of your academic career, you don't complain too much, "All faculty will be keeping their jobs; classes will be doubled. Two Countries of the World classes, two Protection and Enforcement classes. For now, the boys will remain in the passageways of the P&E barn, but by next year, the mansion will be expanded for your rooms." She glanced around at the boys.

"We will also be initiating two new classes that will go hand in hand with each other as well as the CoveOps classes, however, these two classes are not optional and all students will be taking them. I will now allow the teachers of these new classes to introduce themselves and their courses."

The door swung open and in walked Cam's dad and Zach's mom. There were murmers of rumors, but nothing even resembling the truth. The closest was they were married and had escaped with us to find their children. Pretty damn close, but so far.

Zach's mom began her speech halfway down the isle, Cam's dad hung back, leaving most eyes on her, "Agent Catherine Goode, CIA and BSO." There were murmurs, no one knew what BSO was, except for us. And every Blackthorne boy was convinced she was the epitome of evil. She had approached the podium by now, Mr. Morgan hung back beside his wife, "The course is formally known as Improvisation. I, however, enjoy referring to it as the art of winging it. As an operative out in the field, plans don't always stick; sometimes you don't have time to come up with a new one. You need to know how and when to wing it. This class will start with the ninth graders and will end at graduation."

Cammie's dad stepped up to the plate, "Agent Matthew Morgan, CIA." If they were murmur for Zach's mom, they were all but yelling with Cam's dad. The man waited for the din to subside, "Obviously you know my story." He chuckled a bit, "I'm a living example of the need for this class. Resisting Interrogation. The cold hard truth of our trade is that spies get caught. They get interrogated. They need to know how to resist tactics. All students sophomore year and above will be taking this course."

Both new teachers stepped back allowing Headmistress Morgan to step forward, "We will also be accepting some new students as well as some temporary guests."

She went on to introduce the C.O.C. children we had pulled to safety starting with the ones who will be joining the student body.

Eli Francis, Nathan Housley and Prescot Crane were the first to emerge, followed closely by Rosa Lush and her younger sister Maria. All were dressed in their uniforms dress pants, shoes, shirt and a jacket for the boys and white shirts and plaid skirts for the girls. Eli and Rosa would be joining the freshmen. Prescot, Nathan and Maria into their seventh grade year. All of them looked dead.

"Catherine, could you go get the others?" Morgan asked Goode, sending the second woman over to the door. When she emerged she was carrying the youngest girl and leading the other two along.

They were quickly introduced. The youngest was Joan Beckett, she was only three years old and was already an orphan, just like the rest of them. Turns out after the leaders of the circle have heirs, their partners meet untimely deaths. It was a horrible life to lead and I couldn't help but feel sorry for the kids caught it the cross fire. But back to the kids in the dinning hall.

Little Joan had curly blonde hair and big blue eyes. She could be the cover girl for any parenting magazine. Happily oblivious to the childhood she had taken from her. Next came her sister, Nina. She had the same blonde hair and blue eyes as her sister, but she was thinner, less baby fat, seeing as she was seven. You could see in her eyes that she understood that she would not be seeing her mother again, but she refused to cry, although her eyes were red and a bit puffy. The third girl was whimpering. I could see Ms. Goode rubbing circles in the girl's hand. Her blue eyes were dead. She had lost her mother and brother; she understood that. She tried to hide her face behind her black hair, but it wasn't working.

After their introductions, the older kids had made their way into the student body and the younger ones stayed with the adults at the faculty table. Joan sat on Catherine's lap with her sister beside them. Heartbroken Lucy sat on Cammie's mom's lap, all curled up with her head resting on the woman's shoulder.

**Cammie's P.O.V.**

Life as a spy was hard, but not because of the missions. It was the aftermath. We didn't think twice, we didn't mourn when we blew the terrorists sky high. But now, seeing their children, crying over the blood shed we caused, we all wondered, whether we would admit to it or not, if we had done the right thing in killing those evil people, because while we saw them as the terrorists responsible for hundreds of thousands of deaths over hundreds of years, these kids saw them as their moms and dads.

You could see the question in Macey's eyes as she watched Lucy on my mom's lap. In Bex's shoulders as Rosa passed us to take a seat. In Liz's chewing when Prescot discreetly wiped his nose on his jacket. In Jonas's typing fingers when he saw Maria deleting her mother's contact on her phone. In Grant's and Jake's arm wrestling fists when Eli almost tripped on a dropped pancake, almost taking Nathan down with him. In Zach's grip on his orange juice as his mother stroked Joan's hair. And in my actions for the past 12 hours. The way I stayed beside Zach the entire time, needing to be pulled away when curfew past.

But we were spies, so that was the extent of our reactions. When breakfast finished, we all stood, Zach took my hand. We each walked to our classes, never looking back at the kids who would never get to see their parents again.


	24. Chapter 24

**Epilogue**

**Zach's P.O.V.**

A month had passed since our mission and I was sitting on the couch of my mother's apartment for out weekly dinner, a ritual we had stolen from the Morgan's.

"How are you and Cammie doing?" She asked, pouring herself a glass of wine.

"Just dandy." And it was true. We went to school together and were in most of the same classes together. We would work on homework and projects together, our strengths complimenting each other's weaknesses. As corny as it sounds, she was my other half. I couldn't live without her. I still had nightmares where she didn't make it out of the exploding building in time.

"You know, I was thinking," My mother started as she took her seat beside me, "The older kids have all found homes. The Morgan's are thinking about adopting Lucy." That's news to me, "Basically, I was wondering how you'd feel about having a couple of little sisters."

I felt my eyebrows rise, "Nina and Joan?" She nodded, "I don't recall you being the maternal type."

"Well you were supposed to be dead, couldn't exactly take you to Disney World now could I?" She had a point.

"If you're up to it..." And just like that I'm fairly certain I had little sisters.

**Cammie's P.O.V.**

I sat in my mom's office on the couch, "And here it is!" My mom spun around from her microwave brandishing the Mexican rice dish she had attempted. Was it supposed to be grey? "Just try it." She caught the look on my dad's face and I'm assuming, on mine.

"But it looks funny." Lucy, my new sister, spoke, wrinkling her nose at the dish.

"Come on guys. Just try it." She put a heaping serving on each of our plates.

**Bex's P.O.V.**

Kick. Kick. Jab. Punch. Kick. Jab.

Grant and I moved in a circle as we fought. No one winning, no one losing. He was good, but I was better. I kicked him. Hard. He stumbled back and I pounced on him. He fell to the ground and I fell on top of him.

"I think I won." I said smugly, basking in my victory.

"Not so fast." He flipped us over, pinning my legs down with his and holding my wrists above my head with one of his hands. The other one kept his weight from crushing me, "I won."

"If you say Newman." I rolled my eye.

"You know, Baxter, I was thinking, you should do something for me."

"Like what?" I asked, smirking up at him.

"Like be my girlfriend."

**Jonas P.O.V.**

"No its 27 over pie."

"Its 27 over pie squared." She was right.

"Fine, try this one." I wrote down the problem, "Solve for i."

"Distribute the 3. Subtract 9x from both sides, divide both sides by -7. i3u." She went over it again, it was two easy. 9x-7i3(3x-7u). Simple problem, basic algebra. "Wait." She stared at the answer.

I summoned up the courage and when she turned to look at me, mouth gaping I pulled her in and kissed her.

**Macey's P.O.V.**

"Olsen." I yelled.

"Lohan!" Jake yelled back.

"She's infamous! Not famous!"

"What's the difference?"I couldn't respond. We were too close. Toe to toe. Chest to chest. Nose to nose, "What's wrong? Cat got your tongue?" I felt his hands settle on my waist, pulling me closer, if that's possible. His face was moving closer.

"What are you..." His lips met mine.

**Zach's P.O.V.**

"Hey Gallagher Girl." I wrapped my arms around her waist, but she stayed passive, staring out the window in the north tower, "Cam, what's wrong?" I turned her around. She pulled something out of her pocket and handed it to me, "Um, Cam, I don't use these. I can't..." I stared at the tampon.

"I haven't had to use them recently either." Her eyes stayed down.

I puzzled over what she had said. We didn't... Oh crap, "Cammie, are you?"

"I don't know." She whispered.

**A.N.**So, I'm leaving the story with a major cliffy. It's mainly to motivate me to come back and write a sequel. I am however beginning another Gallagher Girl story (Sighted) unrelated to this one that should be up later today. Thank so much for reading! Love you all!


	25. SEQUEL TIME! GET PUMPED!

Ok guys. The time has come for a sequel. Send me ideas for the broader plot (since the COC is gone.) Should there be a new terrorist organization, a splinter group, an inside threat? Give as many or as little details as you want! Just give ideas! Oh! And is she pregnant? Yes or No. If so, how many? Gender? Names?

Love ya :*


	26. SEQUAL IS UP!

**A.N.** Deliverance is here. Tune in for the continued escapades of Cammie and the Gang in the sequel of Visitation. Also, Deliverance will have much slower updates since I am moving back into my dorm at school tomorrow and I have an insane schedule (no sophomore in high school should have an AP and two advanced classes and still be forced to participate in sports *grumble grumble grumble*). Thanks again guys! BTW not all prep school kids are spies nor do they deserve a Gallagher Glare!


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